


Time overlaps

by Kammyh



Series: Tainted Time Eclipse [4]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Alien chasing, Angst and Humor, Complete, Drama, Exit Wounds Fix-it, F/M, Family, Fix-It, Ianto can't give any answer straight, Immortal Ianto Jones, Implied COE fix-it, Light Bondage, Light Tentacles, M/M, Mpreg, Naked Hide and Seek, Not Beta Read, Present-Future cooperation, Quite a bit of porn here and there, RTDevilish, Romance, Same-Sex Marriage, Same-Sex Partnership, Science Fiction, Sequel, Temporary Character Death, Torchwood UNIT and The Government hate each other, teasing sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-13 16:29:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 70,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11763879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kammyh/pseuds/Kammyh
Summary: In two different time-sets Jack thinks that his relationship with Ianto needs a change, but both of them being Torchwood means that things aren’t going to be smooth. Will they manage to survive everything? What about their teams? Team TW3 plus Donna. Exit Wounds fix-it. Sequel to Eclipse on the Lost Lovers and Tainted Souls.





	1. Bondage and Maths

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta-read and English’s not my native language, but I got my usual beta-testing by SOY for the first 4 chapters, the rest is betaless. Before this, you should read Eclipse on the Lost Lovers, but you must read Tainted Souls or not much will make sense to you even though the whole arch is strictly canon based as 2013 goes

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

**Warnings:** Graphic sex.

 

 

Inside the dark room, the silence was broken every once in a while by short intakes of breath and small moans similar to mewls. The pale moonlight shone upon the two figures barely moving on the bed, lighting up the youngest man’s skin like it was soft snow.

“Ja…ck,” Ianto whimpered, almost pleading.

He was straddling his lover, and his eyes were covered with a dark mask that hid a good half of his face, while his hands were tied up behind his head, chained to the mask in the most uncomfortable of positions. Jack lay beneath him with a wicked expression on his face, as he fought against his own desire to trust quicker and faster inside his lover to keep up the maddening game they had begun too many minutes before.

The rules were simple: one single thrust and wait, one more thrust and then wait again. Everything only to drive one another crazy with desperation and need. Ianto, being blindfolded, couldn’t foresee when Jack was going to move or what his lover would do to him: would he lightly caress his thigh? Would he take him in his hands until he was going to cum only to let him go again? Would he fuck him? Would he grope him?

Jack, on the other hand, even though he was increasingly frustrated by the irregular and slow pace he was keeping while buried inside his lover, took his chance to drink in the vision of a lost and unsure Ianto, loving all the hesitant and undone sounds he made.

When they were at the beginning of their relationship, or better, of what would _much later_ evolve into _some sort_ of a relationship, it hadn’t taken them too much to grow confident with each other’s bodies. No matter how much the idea had intrigued the captain at the beginning, the allure of an _almost_ shy Ianto didn’t last much.

Nevertheless Jack had found it endearing as much as arousing, so during the various stages of their dabbling he had experimented with lots of different tricks, just to steal another glance at that particular aspect of Ianto’s character. It was not like he didn’t adore the confident lover he had on daily basis, far from that, but he was a 51st century guy, with peculiar needs and an undercurrent desire to confront himself with different sexual challenges every once in a while.

As soon as he had put his mind to it, after they had began dating and even more after Owen and Toshiko’s death, Jack had discovered that Ianto Jones alone would suffice, and that he could be completely satisfied even without frequently changing partner. There was something in conquering Ianto definitively, that simply put trying to get in everyone else’s pants at a level best described as ‘ _not so much_ ’ or ‘ _too easy task_ ’.

The actual extension of it, though, became clear to Jack only some time after his sweet Rose decided to gift him back his lover, and he finally had the chance to ask Ianto to try a threesome. Ianto had cautiously accepted and eventually they‘d hooked up with a stunning woman they had just met in a bar.

It was exactly six months before, but he remembered everything clearly now, even though things had been a bit confusing for him during the days following that little escapade.

Even though the sex had been amazing and also Ianto admitted in the end that it hadn’t been an entirely bad experience as he had feared, the truth was that for Jack it had been special _only_ because of Ianto’s presence. The adrenaline of a new conquest, the one he still got when he _flirted_ with every creature he met, living or not, had simply ceased to exist once they had entered the girl’s room and he found himself in bed with her.

He had thought at first that it might have been because Ianto was there with them too and he subconsciously felt guilty about it, but once he had let himself think about it better, he realized that his lover had joined them only some time later, after he had gathered enough courage to try something completely new to him.

Not tainting their home with bad memories, in case things didn’t work well, had been the main reason why they had not chosen their own flat for the encounter after all. They knew that there were chances for it to become an issue later, so they‘d decided beforehand to arrange everything out of what had become their routine and their domestic setting, just in case.

A clear answer to Jack’s inner turmoil, though, had been his immediate reaction at Ianto’s insecurities _when_ he had eventually joined them. _That_ had been a rush of adrenaline, and _that_ had been the moment in which Jack understood how his own body and heart were already miles far ahead from his mind, as they told him that he couldn’t ever consider sex without Ianto. And if Ianto happened to look at him with those big and timid blue eyes in the process, all the better.

At least now his boyfriend had no reason to fear him sleeping around for as long as he was alive, and Jack was happy to know that it _was_ going to be a very long time.

Solved the “ _lack of need for new partners_ ” issue, Jack had enough time to try and take to its full extend the miraculous turn-on that his boyfriend could offer when all his infinite knowledge failed to assist him and had no idea about what would happen or what to do.

What had condemned Ianto, strictly speaking, had probably been his complete lack of experience with men when he had unconsciously/consciously seduced Jack at the very beginning. Even though it was supposed to be just sex back then, _that_ had been the very first moment in which the captain had the first taste of what was going to become his drug.

Each time they tried something new, and it was quite often, Ianto’s beginnings were always slow, uncertain and clumsy, satisfying Jack’s inner desire to teach as much as to give orders. The good and worse part of it, though, was that his boyfriend was a pretty adept and fast learner and once he had understood what he was supposed to do, he easily mastered it like a pro in record time.

It was a great feature for a lover, of course, unless you were in the mood for shy sex and you had almost covered the whole extension of past, present and future kamasutras. When something like that had happened with his past lovers, he hadn’t bother too much: he had simply found someone new, maybe from a planet with many more moral inhibitions than what he was used to, hoping to find someone entertaining.

With Ianto on the other hand _everything_ he tried was the _first_ _time_ he had done it, at least with a man, so given Jack’s big and tortuous imagination a shy Ianto had become quite the epicentre of every dream he had.

As he was quickly running out of options, Jack had to turn to more sophisticated ways to get what he wanted during those days in which he was in the mood for it and ended up inventing the most complex positions only to confuse the Welshman further and crack his logic at the last minute.

For their special night though, the idea of the blindfold had come out naturally and it surprised him how it hadn’t crossed his mind until then. No matter how many times they would try this, Ianto was never going to get a hold of it not even with more experience, so Jack would always get his shy lover whenever he wanted. And if Ianto also happened to be madly aroused and frustrated, he surely wouldn’t complain.

An evil smirk twisted Jack’s lips and he feather-like traced with his fingers the whole length of his lover’s cock, eliciting a strangled cry from him.

“Don’t…Stop…” Ianto managed to breath out.

“Oh Jones, Ianto Jones, I don’t see any reason to do that again, do I?” Jack teased, repeating the same action despite his words and drawing out a surprised hiss from his lover.

“You’re evil…Ah!” Ianto’s entire frame shook as Jack began to actually thrust inside him, building up a more satisfying pace for the both of them… Only to stop again a few minutes later.

“Stop now and I’ll kill you!” Ianto screamed, his voice desperate, aroused and terribly dangerous as he tried desperately to free his arms. Being unsuccessful with that, Ianto clenched his ring of muscles around Jack’s cock in retaliation.

The captain groaned and couldn’t stop himself from bucking up a couple more times before gathering enough self-control to stop himself.

“You’re a little devil, you know that?” Jack teased breathlessly.

“Says the man who’s teasing me into unconsciousness!” Ianto argued, and he tried to straighten his legs a bit to do the movement by himself, since his lover was being an ass about it, but he almost fell over Jack, as he shockingly discovered that his legs were tied up in a way that prevented him to stretch them at all.

“When the fuck did you do that!?” Ianto screamed, bordering into exasperation.

Jack simply sniggered. “Had to entertain myself while I kept edging you.”

Ianto’s groan morphed into a moan as his lover choose that very same moment to start thrusting again inside him, this time way harsher that before as he gripped his hips hard to ease himself inside, since Ianto was basically bounded into stillness.

Their orgasm built up quicker than Jack had hoped, so he took Ianto’s cock in his hand to help his lover towards the end, and soon pearly white semen spurted all over his chest, its hotness sending him straight over his own edge.

A soft blush coloured Ianto’s cheeks at the sudden warmth inside himself and an embarrassed cry escaped his lips despite his desperate attempt to self control. Jack couldn’t ask for a better display of his drug if asked.

He made quick work of the belts tightened around Ianto’s thighs and shins, and helped him lay down next to him to lighten the burden on his knees, as he freed his lover’s wrists and untied the blindfold.

Ianto tried to open his eyes, but he soon had to close them again, since even the pale moonlight was way too painfully bright for his long blinded eyes. Eventually he hid his face over his boyfriend's chest as he snuggled closer to him, searching for comfort. Jack tightened his hold on him and kissed the top of his head, smiling evilly as he heard the alarm clock on the bedside table chiming midnight.

“Happy birthday, my love”

Ianto simply grunted. “This doesn’t count as a birthday present”

Jack laughed. “Doesn’t it? Pity, because I’m quite sure that you liked it a lot”

“Let me count the damages: I still can’t stretch my legs and my arms without crying, I can’t find a single muscle that doesn’t ache and I don’t think I could sit on a chair properly for the next couple of days” Ianto began seriously considering his words, as he weighted the pros and cons before giving his resolution with a wide and deeply satisfied smile. “Yeah, I liked it a lot”

Jack’s smile widened even more, as he helped his lover lying atop of him to kiss him properly.

“Anyway I had something else in mind when I blindfolded you… Things have only gotten a little out of hand when I saw you all cute and lost, being deprived of your sight”

Ianto looked down at Jack, raising an eyebrow. “Owen was right: you’re one sick man, Harkness.”

“Oh no” Jack countered, taking a firm hold of Ianto’s cheeks with his hands. “I’m just an old man with a knack for young meat”

“Yeah, and the fact that I’m practically turning 28 when I should be turning 32, but in fact I still look bloody 26 doesn’t bother you at all?”

“It _does_ bother me actually, you were sexy with those few gray strands. I even masturbated on the graveyard recording a couple of times before you came back definitely”

“Oh, so I’d better not to spoil your fun then” Ianto stated, trying to sound collected despite Jack’s roaming hands on his backside.

“What do you mean?” Jack asked dubiously, crooking an eyebrow and pausing the teasing.

“I gave a better look at my future self on that video and my assumption is that I trolled you just fine”

The captain looked at him in his eyes completely lost, not understanding the meaning behind his words.

“Genetically speaking it’s not possible for my hair to be getting grey when my face aged so little. We tend to have grey hair way older in my family.”

“Wait, you mean that you dyed some of your hair grey only to make us believe that you were older than you looked?”

“How would I know?” Ianto answered shrugging. “I’m guessing here as much as you can”

“But I’m getting grey hair _now_!” Jack’s face was a mix of horror and outrage.

“Yeah, but you were turned immortal in your late thirties. There’s more than ten years gap that has to stretch through immortal longevity.”

“Great, now let me go to sleep knowing that I’ll forever be a cradle robber” Jack said, yawning as he tightened his arms around Ianto and turned to his side, bringing the Welshman over with him like he was hugging a Teddy bear. 

Ianto stifled a yawn too, and made himself more comfortable in his lover’s arms as he caressed lovingly his chest.

“I’ll wait ‘till tomorrow to know then” Ianto muttered, almost dozing off to sleep himself.

“Uh?”

“You said that exhausting me with teasing sex wasn’t the main reason for you to blindfold me”

“Heck, you’re right! I’d forgotten it!” Jack exclaimed all of sudden sitting up, fully awake.

Ianto grumbled sleepily, shifting on his back to evade Jack’s drive.

“So you forgot the main reason that had you pleading Gwen and Donna to give us our first night off in months, so that you could bring me to the most expensive restaurant in town and then to the cinema, incidentally, only to make out in the back row?”

“Hey, that make out wasn’t satisfying enough, I _had_ to have you as soon as the lights were out again and you were nicely blindfolded.”

“I thought the hand job following the making out was satisfying enough” Ianto retorted, glaring at Jack.

“It was, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to keep the edging going so long”

The captain’s eyes seemed almost innocent enough to be believed, so Ianto simply grimaced, trying to keep his pride intact despite Jack’s initial words. He would have considered it shameful if domesticity had worn out his sexual prowess.

“So, what was all this about since it appears that I’m not allowed to sleep?”

Jack searched inside the pockets of his discarded trousers until he found a small dark case. He opened it in front of Ianto’s curious stare and revealed a pair of ornate platinum bands, crossed by all their length by a double line of tiny emeralds.

“Would you like, you know…” Jack stuttered uncertain. “To become my partner?”

Ianto’s initial surprise, suddenly turned into a frown until his glare eventually fixed unreadable on his lover.

“What do you want me to forgive you? Did you sleep with someone else?”

“What!?” Jack cried out offended.

“Oh, please.” Ianto told him plainly, crossing his hands on his chest. “You are the kind of man who does nice things because you hope to be forgiven for something you did, I have proofs. You asked me out on a date only because you wanted to be forgiven for going away with the Doctor without a word and the mess with Gwen, and it took you the discussion we had with Beth to remember that when you’re in a relationship with someone you are supposed to care for the other and not only be certain that he comes too.”

“ _You_ are the one who never told me you thought I had bad in-bed manners! How am I supposed to know you don’t like them if you don’t fucking tell me!? And if you didn’t notice before, no matter  what prompted it the first time, we kept going on dates regularly after that and you never had to call my in-bed manners bad ever again!”

“ _Ever again_ might be a little bit exaggerated, but I have to give you that” Ianto replied, now smiling sweetly at him.

Jack stared at him with his mouth open, the chilling sensation to have been played quickly becoming a certainty.

“Look, do we really have to fight over past issues?” He argued, closing the lid of the small case. “I hoped you‘d say yes… I’m sorry if you still don’t trust me enough to accept, but you could at least avoid being sassy about it”

As he tried to put the case away though, Ianto stopped him, enclosing it in his hands alongside Jack’s fingers. He stared at him amused and a little bit embarrassed.

“Of course it was a yes, Jack. I would never refuse you, you know it”

“You accused me to be the one hiding something! To cheat on you!” Jack stated, staring astonished at his lover.

“I didn’t accuse you” Ianto pointed out evenly, deep redness now creeping on his neck. “I just asked why.”

“And how’s that a yes??”

“You can’t tell me it’s a no either.”

Jack’s jaw dropped again, as he failed to find a proper retort to his lover’s logic.

“Why do I put up with you?” Jack asked, sighing deeply as he covered his too tired eyes with his hand.

“Because the sex is good?” Ianto offered playfully, even more embarrassed than before. “What’s wrong?”

“You know, when someone asks someone else out or to be their partner, they expect a yes/no answer not ‘ _As long it is not in an office_ ’ or ‘ _What do you want me to forgive you?_ ’. Those do not equals to yes, those equals to ‘ _What the hell!?_ ’. How did you survive with Lisa?”

“She simply didn’t ask” Ianto answered honestly. “She assumed it was alright with me.”

“What kind of relationship is that?” Jack asked puzzled, but his boyfriend simply shrugged.

“A practical one. We always managed to have a good time, because we were together and I was still allowed my own propositions. So things pretty much went both ways.”

“It… doesn’t make sense, Ianto. This it’s two people adding the other to their lives when they feel like it and the other adapting, waiting for his chance to do something they like better.”

“How can it not make sense?” Ianto asked confused. “It was the same for us at the beginning”

“Yeah, when we still didn’t admit to love each other!”

“Talk about yourself. If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t have taken you back after your little exploit with the Doctor, despite wanting to admit it or not”

“Well, thinking about it now, I don’t think I would have come back so right away if I didn’t love you back, but I was still pretty much confused and traumatized by the Year That Never Was at the time. I only wanted my quiet normal life back after the complete mess that is having a trip with the Doc”

“Quiet and normal? Do you really qualify as normal working for Torchwood, shagging your co-worker and wanting to shag another one, who incidentally already has her own boyfriend?”

“You can’t deny that beats a year killed day after day”

Ianto reclined his head to his side, silently conceding him the point. It had already sounded unbearable at the beginning, but now that he had a firsthand experience of what dying and coming back to life meant, he could agree with his boyfriend even more easily.

“So,” Ianto asked, hoping to change the topic as he sensually started caressing Jack’s chest as he leaned over him again. “Are we going to make incisions?”

“Incisions?” The captain asked amused. “Like _love you forever_?”

“You _do_ realize that it would be a bad joke considering how we are both going to be around almost that much, don’t you?”

Jack simply laughed at Ianto’s reproachful expression. “What would you like to write, then?”

“The truth? That you’re the man I came back for.” Ianto said, blushing a deeper shade of red as he tried to hide his overly embarrassed expression. He was getting better at it, but talking about his feelings for Jack still made him feel awkward. “Rose brought me back because you missed me, didn’t she? I wouldn’t find a better way to thank her”

“Well” Jack said, tracing the lines of Ianto’s stubbly chin with the tip of his index finger. “Then I’ll write that you’re the man I’m coming back to, because no matter how much I might love new adventures, I discovered that I can enjoy them properly only if I have a home to come back to... And you’re my home Ianto Jones”

Jack left a sweet kiss on the tip on his lover’s nose before continuing in a much less romantic tone. “And I’ll write that in Boeshane language, so I’ll be sure that my shaming will stay between the two of us”

“I’m not wearing something I can’t read.” Ianto argued back, pouting. “But the idea of using our own languages has its charm”

“What would you suggest then?” Jack asked curiously. He loved the way his lover’s mind worked most of the times.

“I’ll write down yours in Welsh for my band, and you’ll write mine in Boeshane language for yours”

“And how would we know we won’t cheat?”

“Trust. I find it extremely romantic.” Ianto teased with a beaming smile. “Besides, they are more personal languages, but they aren’t some kind of private code. You could always have my band read out by Gwen, Rhys or my sister, and I could always wait for the Doctor, Hart or your next ex-lover that will fall upon us”

“You really must have a lot of trust in me since you believe those three to be common occurrences”

The glare Ianto threw at him was all the answers he needed.

Jack laughed nervously and then moved his lover to sit in his lap, smiling happily as Ianto affectionately put his arms around his neck and snuggled closer. Their lips met on their own accord and they devoured each other greedily, exploring every inch of the other’s naked skin.

“I propose a toast…” Ianto whispered in his boyfriend’s ear.

“We’ve barely been at home lately, I don’t think we have something to toast with” Jack pointed out, but the malicious smirk that crossed Ianto’s lips made him understand that maybe, just maybe, they were talking about two different kind of celebrations.

“I think I’ve everything I want to drink right here” Ianto said with the deepest and huskiest voice he could muster, as he slowly slid lower, preparing himself to fondle Jack’s cock.

“Wait a minute you down there” Jack ordered with the tone he usually used at work. Obediently Ianto stopped, looking up at him like a dog who had just been denied his favourite toy.

The captain approached him and slapped playfully his butt, following the tempting curve of his cheeks and then down the tights to grope firmly him behind his knees and tugging his legs up to face him.

“Do you realize that if we have to make a toast we’re _both_ supposed to drink, uh?”

Ianto’s lips quirked in a happy smile as he moved forwards again, gripping his boyfriend’s knee for leverage.

“You sure you don’t want to check on Gwen and Donna first? I won’t allow second thoughts”

“They’re old enough to call if is something’s wrong.” Jack cut short as he lay on his side and slid his head between his lover’s legs.

Ianto wanted to argue that the two women had not always shown such a rational behaviour, but as soon as his cock was in Jack’s mouth he forgot everything, and simply prepared himself to return the favour.

Nothing was better to celebrate their engagement than a little bit of maths.

**T.B.C.**


	2. Supernatural Parade

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

 

Back at the hub, the scenario was beyond apocalyptic.

The proximity alarms had gone off and were blasting loudly, the rift activity signals had been ignored for so long that the volume had reached an ear-breaking level and Myfanwy’s worried and panicked cries joined the Torchwood team’s confused yells in a cacophony of noise.

“Gwen! Tell me you found something!!!” Donna shouted from her position next to the cog door. She was desperately trying to keep it closed with the help of a magnetic clamp powered by human heat, but she was steadily losing her energy and heat, hands growing clammier and cold. “They are forcing open the bloody door!!”

“The computer is still cross-referencing!” Gwen, in a fit of desperation, hit the computer’s hard-drive with the book she was holding, wishing it to go faster. “Here they say to sonic the vampire-like ones but not the zombie-like… Lightning’s good for zombies but not for vampires… Don’t ask me why… This general-support encyclopaedia is useless unless we know what they are!!”

She threw the ancient and heavy tome through the hub and ran towards the only section of the archives she hadn’t vandalized yet, hoping to find something useful there.

“Don’t leave me alone now, you psychotic woman!” Donna argued out loud, seeing Gwen disappear through a door she didn’t even know existed.

Shaun and Rhys threw Donna an outraged look for being ignored, but they knew better than argue with the harassed woman, especially now. Shaun focused once again on Myfanwy, trying to calm her down so she wouldn’t hurt herself, whilst Rhys simply continued repairing the section of the rift manipulator that had been damaged by the explosion that had happened at the beginning of the night.

After some time, Gwen re-emerged from the archives with a tommy-gun and a laser blaster in her hands and rushed towards Donna, angrily throwing the blaster at her feet.

“Why am I a psycho now!?” Gwen protested, looking at her teammate both surprised and insulted.

“Oh, c’mon! It was the only word that sounded like psychic that came to my mind!” Donna cried out desperately. “Go back to the damn computer!!”

“Oh, right!” Gwen agreed, and then ran back to her workstation to stare again at the screen with renewed apprehension. “It’s finishing now and… It found them!”

“ _Avanpoxiaran_.” She began reading. “ _Related species: Gelth. Their dead can be brought back to life if they manage to steal the body of a living alien. Before the switch can be done they must absorb the lives of a certain number of people to prepare the body for transition. They won’t do anything on a hostile planet until they get in contact with an alien subject to test for compatibility. If the compatibility check gives positive results, all the Avanpoxiaran in the area will move to get the test and every other person unfortunate enough to be seen with it, instinctively taking for granted those people to be of the same genetic matrix of the tested_.”

“What the heck does it mean??” Donna asked completely baffled. Even after two years, big words still confounded her.

“They are bloody vampire alien zombies!” Gwen summed up for her, and then glared at Rhys. “And they all activated and are trying to get us, only because _you_ _had_ to go and touch one of them! I told you to be careful during night patrols!”

“I didn’t think a little girl would be harmful!” Rhys tried to defend himself, closing the glass panel of the rift manipulator and going behind the control panel to restore its functionalities.

“When we’re talking about aliens, it is _especially_ not the little girl!”

“Oi! I finally managed to calm down Myfanwy” Shaun interrupted them, running hopefully towards Gwen. “You still want to try the sleeping powder trick?”

“No, they are dead, it would be useless.” Gwen cried out desperately, falling down on the chair with her head in her hands, trying to think about another plan.

“I think we should call Jack in” Rhys proposed, but soon the resolute stares of both Gwen and Donna burned holes through his skull like fire.

“NO WAY!” They shouted simultaneously.

“Now, you girls.” Shaun tried to support the other man, only to be subjected to the girls’ twin glare together with Rhys. “I know we’re just the part-timers here, but Rhys’s right. If we chose democratically to vote for this, I’m siding with him to call them in.”

“Jack and Ianto worked double turns and did all the night shifts while we were pregnant and also after the kids were born!” Gwen yelled at them. “There’s no fucking way that we are going to deny them the first night they took for themselves in _over two years_!”

“Yeah, but if we can’t manage to stop this mess, there won’t be any Torchwood to come back to!” Rhys argued back, trying unsuccessfully to reason with his wife. “We’re just lucky that until now we’re the only ones they want, but give them time to spread around the city when morning comes, and there will be no way for us to keep this mess from them! Not to mention the rest of Cardiff!”

“I’ll show you how much I can keep this chaos from them!” Gwen snapped at him, as she went to a different computer station and pressed as quickly as she could the keys to use the emergency protocol she wanted.

As soon as she had finished with the last entry button, a screeching noise of walls moving echoed inside the already chaotic hub, and a light earthquake made some of the shelves crash on the floor, their contents scattering everywhere.

“What the heck have you done!?” Donna asked, both worried and amazed, grasping tightly the magnetic clamp in her hands for dear life.

“I shielded the hub, putting it under an invisible dome: it was one of Tosh’s latest tricks.” Gwen explained, smirking mischievously at the other three. “It uses the rift energy, so basically we only needed the right program and a computer connected to the rift manipulator to activate the guard. Luckily the piece of software was still saved on our servers after the explosion of our original hub and even after the various hacking attempts of the Government.”

“So this means…” Rhys muttered, his face turning increasingly white.

“That it will be only us against them from now on. For as long as it takes.” She told him with a resolute glint in her eyes as she charged the tommy-gun still in her hands. “The dome will undo itself automatically once the emergency stops.”

“Let’s not waste any more time then” Donna yelled, as she fiddled with the clamp commands in order to make it deactivate itself in a minute. Unfortunately once turned on the automatic setting that was the longest period of time she could set.

She took her blaster and charged it with a loud electric sound, the same determination in Gwen’s eyes lighting up hers too.

“I will fry you with the best weapon for a temp, babies”

“Only because it doesn’t pull you backwards when you shoot” Gwen sneered at her playfully as she joined her, taking front position at her side.

Both of them were ready to confront the vampires, aliens, zombies or whatever those creatures were as they stared unsurely at the slow countdown shown by the magnetic clamp display.

After what felt like a year of time ticking by, the timer hit zero and the cog door started to open.

The two women immediately began to fire at the aliens with everything they had, not even waiting to see their ugly faces, until the tommy-gun shots overflowed the entrance of the hub with a thick fog of debris, and the blaster blinded everyone with its colourful flashes of destruction.

Rhys took out his gun, hoping to get there in time to help the girls, but as he tried to run and reach his wife, he discovered that his feet had been fastened at the rift manipulator control station by a pair of handcuffs.

“Fuck you, Gwen!” He cried out, furious.

Shaun in the meantime had thought about a more tactical approach and had successfully managed to secure two small plastic bags to Myfanwy’s legs. Somehow she understood what the black-skinned part-timer was asking her to do, and she flew quickly towards the cog door, disappearing among all the dust and bolts with a loud, high-pitched cry.

“What have you given ‘er!?” Rhys asked him, astonished by the pterodactyl’s obedience and understanding of Shaun’s orders as well as the Englishman’s ability to produce an alternative plan to the girls’ suicidal one.

“Just a bit of something.” Shaun told Rhys with a knowing grin, running towards him to try to free his foot from the handcuffs.

Before he had managed to help Rhys though, all the noise in the entrance stopped altogether. There were no more alarms, no more cries, no more shooting, no more blasts. Both men stared dazedly at the cog door, worried about their wives’ lives, not even daring to take a breath, or hoping to see them come out unscathed from that mess. As the seconds passed by though, Shaun decided he’d better go back to what he had been doing and hastily forced open the cuffs with the handle of his own gun.

Together they rushed to the doorway, praying deep inside themselves that their beloved ones were still alive, but, once they got there, what they saw made them burst in laughter, making the worry vanish instantly.

“Eeww.” Gwen said disgusted, as she peeled pieces of ghostly white skin off her body.

“This serves you right, Gwennie” Rhys reprimanded her, smirking pleased at the outcome as he crossed his arms on his chest. He knew that maybe, just maybe, he was supposed to help her, but for just few more minutes he was going to take his time to savour the sweet taste of karma biting back.

Shaun on the other hand was quick to get to his wife’s side, trying to clean her to the best of his abilities.

“You’re feeling alright, honey bucket?” He cooed gently. “It shouldn’t be toxic, but you’ve better get cleaned soon or you beautiful hair will be ruined.”

Those words made it through Donna’s shock, and she hastily and unsuccessfully began to remove the residues from herself, only to stop unnerved after a short while, deeming it a hopeless case.

“I need a shower” she concluded, noticing how the substance seemed to cling to her skin. “What the heck have you done by the way, love? Rhys was feet-cuffed so it _must_ have been you.”

Shaun helped his wife to stand up and smiled fondly at her. “Something like alien holy water. Ianto gave me the detailed name and explanation actually, but I got lost half-way through it, so I stayed by Jack’s final definition of it. Gwen said they were also vampires, so I took the chance. Myfs is a good girl, she managed to understand what was needed and got to do her delivery quickly”

“Don’t let Ianto know you called her like that” Gwen warned him, grimacing as Rhys eventually took pity on her and decided to at least help her back to her feet. “Stick with _the pterodactyl_ if you can’t stop yourself from that nickname and everything will be fine, mate”

“Possessive of his pet is he?” Shaun asked, amused, trying to not laugh as Gwen slipped on the mess on the dirty floor, falling on her backside once again and this time bringing Rhys down with her.

“You can say that” Gwen moaned in pain.

Rhys and Shaun shooed the girls away and proceeded to do a thorough cleaning and sterilizing of the floors and Myfanwy, both overly covered in mushy ghostly residues. The Torchwood pet was squeaking in displeasure, more than a little annoyed.

The two women took their time to get their extremely needed showers, ran basic tests on themselves to be certain that there wasn’t any dangerous substance or remains on them and then joined their husbands in the impossible task to bring the hub back to some resemblance of neat order before daylight came, as it would bring with the morning dew also their moody boss and his nearly OCD boyfriend.

No need to be said that it wasn’t Jack’s rage the one they feared the most.

 

* * *

 

 

Donna was still fixing the last weird device back on its proper shelf when the two men entered the hub, looking unsettled and quite disgusted.

“Is there any particular reason for the tourist office, the staircase and the tunnel to smell like a dead dog?” Ianto asked, raising an eyebrow at his female co-workers.

Gwen’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times as she clenched nervously the tome she had been repairing in her arms.

“Uhm, yeah… Dogs! What else could be smelling like dogs except… dogs, uh?” She stuttered. “They… broke inside and we dealt with them. Tramps.”

“Yeah!” Donna joined, trying to sound more convincing than Gwen ad failing miserably at it. “Absolutely no aliens, no vampires, no ghosts and no zombies. Absolutely nothing that could fall into the supernatural categ- Ouch!!”

Jack and Ianto had to raise an eyebrow at that, especially when Gwen elbowed Donna to make her shut up and then both girls looked up at them, smiling too innocently for them to be honest.

“So, if we checked the CCTV and the reports that should already be on my desk, we’re going to find just that?” The captain asked distrustfully.

“Well” Gwen tried to say, gesturing nervously with her free hand. “There were _many_ dogs you know. So we were thinking about calling it a day- I mean, a night… And then coming back this afternoon… write the reports, of course… and, well-”

Something crossed her mind and she smiled widely, hoping she had finally found her way out of the forced interview.

“Obviously take you two out to dinner! Happy birthday, Ianto!” Gwen concluded happily, over-excitingly hugging her friend and patting his back.

“Yeah, happy birthday, immortal number two!” Donna joined Gwen in congratulating and hugging Ianto, taking extreme care to drag him slightly to his side to prevent the two men to notice Shaun and Rhys leaving the hub. “How does it feel aging and not aging at the same time? Don’t develop a liking for bananas, uuh? One Doctor is enough.”

Jack laughed heartily at her words, obviously taking the right decision to understand it the wrong way. “Too late for it, he already developed a taste for bananas some time ago!”

“Jack!!” Gwen reprimanded him, fighting to contain her grin.

Ianto simply shook his head and ignored his lover, frowning. “It’s absurd actually. Now I understand why Jack never wanted to celebrate his.”

The captain grinned at him and encircled his shoulder with his arm. “I don’t even know when it should be if I were to put my birthday on 21st century Earth terms, so please, feel free to celebrate your own for as long as you remember when it is.”

“Why don’t we make a big double party?!” Donna proposed happily. “No one should be denied gifts, free cakes and snacks!”

“I said don’t mind me!” Jack argued. “I don’t even know what’s the number of candles you should put on the cake, or if the lot would even fit over a three layers one.”

“Don’t worry about it, Jack.” Gwen smiled at him motherly. “After we get our sleep we’ll make sure there’s a gift for you as well.”

“I’d say, you write the draft of your report _before_ you go home and I’ll take that as my _not_ -birthday present.” Jack smirked back at the two women, who swore silently under their breath as they took out a paper each and scribbled on it furiously.

“You know, it just occurred to me that you could be celebrating your birthday before you are even actually born” Ianto told him with a teasing smile on his lips. “Technically, our birth dates would make me three thousand years your senior.”

“That line of thoughts wouldn’t work, Ianto” Jack argued, stifling a laugh. “You can’t get partner-shipp _ed_ with an unborn child”

“Did I hear the word partnership?” Donna cut in, her report in her hands and a very interested glint in her eyes.

“Is she right?” Gwen joined her, with her own paper at hand, glancing from Jack to Ianto. “One of you two eventually proposed?”

“Yeah” Ianto answered, blushing madly as he tried to keep a blank expression on his face instead of the embarrassed happy smile that was trying to break through. “Jack proposed yesterday night”

“Yeah, and he answered like the dork he is.” Jack concluded gleefully, managing to make his lover blush even more.

“Oh my gosh, what did he say?” The two women sighed in unison.

After the old team had made up with one another, getting over fears and jealousies, and they had acquired the overly chatty Donna, all the team had begun to get together after work the way they were used to do when Toshiko and Owen were still alive, in order to know each other better, chat and take some well-deserved break in-between the worse cases happening to them.

Going out in a large group had proven to be much of a relief, especially when they had to deal with humans being way more monstrous than the aliens they were after, but had also opened a spot for reminiscing their past along with few more private details. Obviously none of the couples indulged too much in detailed explanations of their private life, even though Jack regularly tried to turn their friendly exchange of anecdotes into more X-rated tales, however they had eventually spilled enough to uncover some of the weirdest traits of each other’s personalities.

Donna only appeared tough, but she was actually rather unsure of herself and her abilities. Gwen tried to act cool, rude and detached, but even small things could hurt her deeply and she especially suffered when _she_ was the one hurting someone else. Jack, despite all his flirting, could in reality be shy and nervous when he really put his mind into something, whilst Ianto was so unused to express his feelings clearly that he couldn’t give a straight answer even if his life depended on it, especially when he was offered something he had always wanted.

Since all of them knew how much the younger immortal yearned to have Jack signed off for his pants only, they could only guess the amount of idiocies that could have fallen out that smart mouth.

“He asked me whom I’d cheated him with” Jack answered, glaring and smiling at Ianto at the same time.

“So romantic.” The two women deadpanned, shaking dramatically their heads at the Welshmen.

“You know, geek” Donna told him, as she friendly approached Ianto and patted his shoulder. “Sometimes I suspect _you_ ’re the alien of the couple”

“I’m telling you again,” Jack argued for what was presumably the 234th time as Ianto and Gwen tried to stop their giggles. “I’m _not_ an alien!”

“I’m not believing that after that thing Gwen told me about pregnancies and oestrogen” Donna argued, pointing accusingly her finger at him. Jack huffed as he rolled his eyes and brusquely collected the women’s reports.

“Hurry up and go to sleep! Say hi to your husbands and kids for us”

“See you tonight then!” Gwen chirped happily, heading towards the door and bringing Donna along with her. “And congratulations on the proposal! We’re going to give you guys a hard time about every detail, so you better prepare yourself!”

“Bye bye! Congrats from me too, immortal one and two!”

The two women disappeared behind the cog door and Jack let himself fall on the nearest chair as he handled the reports to Ianto for the initial supervision.

“Do you really think they believe they have fooled us?”

“Don’t know, but at least they called for help” Ianto answered, taking the papers without even looking at them and moving straight to the kitchenette to prepare coffee for Jack and himself.

“I did not hear any call tonight” Jack recalled with a grunt, as he turned the chair to face the kitchen general direction.

“I meant Rhys and Shaun.” Ianto clarified. “Didn’t you notice them leaving behind our backs?”

Jack’s eyes went wide. “What?? When was that and why didn’t you say something!?”

“Though you’d noticed.” Ianto said, shrugging nonchalantly. “I do believe it was sometime before they began discussing our birthdays”

“Only your birthday,” Jack sighed louder and relaxed on the chair even more. “So tell me, what do the reports say?”

“Hmm…” Ianto mumbled, taking the papers back in his hands and scanning them quickly before giving his attention back at the two mugs of coffee. “Just like we predicted, major mess. They were honest in mentioning Rhys and Shaun’s contribution though, we must give them that”

Jack waited for Ianto to reach him downstairs and took the mug he was offering him, leaving the other man free to keep reading the reports carefully as he sipped his own coffee.

“We should retrieve some samples from the shower if there are some left” Ianto said after some time.

“Why?” Jack asked uninterested, focussed on his coffee.

“It would make me go through the day happier if I were to know that the girls didn’t get contaminated by some _weird supernatural Frankenstein’s monster_ ”

“What!?” Jack yelled, jumping up from his seat and only miraculously not spilling coffee on himself. “Is that what happened tonight!? I swear I’m never leaving them unsupervised again!”

“Calm down” Ianto told him, stifling a laugh. “They were only Avanpoxiarans, but we only know this from Gwen’s report. Donna was a bit more… _creative_ with definitions and descriptions.”

“She always is” Jack said, frowning as he gravitated behind Ianto to read Gwen’s report over his shoulder. “They had quite an apocalypse tonight, I have to admit that I’m impressed they survived without calling us”

“This seems to be thanks to the ‘ _always careful and caring_ ’ Shaun and our ‘ _simple-minded and practical_ ’ Rhys” Ianto drawled, sarcastically quoting the description for the two men from Donna’s report. “Who somehow managed to make up for their wives suicidal attempts”

“I’m putting away that damn tommy-gun” Jack argued as he finished reading Gwen’s report and reached for the piece of paper under that to read properly Donna’s. “Gwen has become addicted to those things, and I won’t let Anwen and Heddwyn lose their mother like this.”

“You can’t, Jack” Ianto told him wearily, relaxing against his lover’s broad chest. “You would have to put away Donna’s blaster too”

“Donna won’t die even if she was shot, Angie surely isn’t at risk of losing hers” Jack quipped, raising an eyebrow at Donna’s colourful description of the events. Were really the same events summarized by Gwen?

“She’s quite hard to take down, isn’t she?”

The captain left a quick kiss on Ianto’s cheek and hugged him tight. “I’m glad you’re hard to take down too at the moment. And you will be likely hard to take down forever”

“In more ways than one” Ianto teased, turning into his lover’s arms to fully kiss him on his lips.

He left their mugs and the girls’ reports on the nearest workstation and dragged Jack towards the next one, trapping him between himself and the desk as he left hungry open-mouth kisses along the whole length of his neck.

Jack whimpered, trying to focus on what his priorities were and failing at it.

“Wait… Ianto!”

The Welshman tore himself away from his boyfriend with disappointment, staring at him looking like the split definition of hot and bothered. Jack had to gulp at the display, but since he was the boss in Torchwood, he felt the need to stand his ground despite his better judgment.

“Look, I promise you we’ll find some time during the morning to ‘distract’ ourselves from work, but right now we have our jobs to do.”

Ianto simply looked at Jack flabbergasted, earning a laugh from his lover for it and a reproachful slap on his butt.

“C’mon don’t look at me like that, I know you want to check what the damages are too. I gathered they had quite a row in the archives searching for weapons and information logs…”

The disappointed look on the youngest immortal’s face quickly turned into one of sheer panic, as he hurriedly left his boyfriend and the main area to disappear into his domains, hoping that the actual damages didn’t spread as wide as he feared considering Donna and Gwen’s lack of order and discipline.

Jack stared at his lover’s back quickly disappearing behind the cog door and shook his head, heading for the medical bay to retrieve tampons for any eventual sample he could find in the showers.

He had actually hoped, deep inside, that Ianto would find some witty remark to keep his teasing going… He sighed sadly at his lack of luck.

It was just going to be another long day of work. 

**T.B.C.**

**A/N:** While I was browsing for male names for Gwen’s son I found myself looking up at the meanings of some of the names inside the actual series. After killing myself with laughter after discovering that Ianto basically means “Little John”, I noticed that Gwen and Gwyneth both meant the same thing, “white, fair, blessed”. So, as soon as I noticed that there was also a male name with the same meaning, I _had_ to pick that… It would be _so_ Gwen.


	3. 25th century on the rocks

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

 **Warnings** : For those who did not read ELL(Eclipse on the Lost Lovers): the Future Ianto mentioned in the 21st century timeline was from the 26th century. 

**25 th century**

 

Ianto Jones stared at the pink yellowish nebula that was slowly moving on the other side of the window pane with a deep frown on his face. He pushed some colourful buttons on the control panel in front of himself and made a couple of screens pop out before him, then he started tapping on them to select the probe camera feature and calibrate it to show the unknown gas mass from different points of view on each screen.

He barely registered the noise of the sliding doors of the control room opening behind him and, huffing in annoyance, he called forth another couple of virtual monitors to compare the visual images he was getting with the data they had already gathered in the last two months of strict supervision.

“Rhys, could you please restart the front basic engines too? I keep feeling we’re getting too close for comfort.”

He heard the sound of someone actually moving behind him to lower the leverage that would make Satellite Three move backwards, followed suit by the noise of heavy steps slowly approaching in his direction. When he actually looked at the newcomer though, instead of his white haired teammate -and acquired nephew- he found himself facing his smiling son and his very pregnant partner.

“I’m sorry if I’m not Rhys, but I could let you call me that tonight if you feel adventurous” Jack teased with a wink, earning a strangled giggle from the four years old looking child in his arms.

“What the hell are you doing here!?” Ianto yelled at him, hands on his hips and glare fixed on the older immortal.

“You shouldn’t shout like that in front of the kid.” The captain told him reproachfully, protectively tightening his grip on his son more for the sake of drama than because the child was actually scared by Ianto’s manners.

“You won’t hide yourself behind Steven, Jack. Now go back to your room and stay there! You’re suicidal when pregnant, so just to be sure that you will be fine this time: you stay locked up! I’ll be in charge of the mission until further notice.”

“Oh, but I trust you on that!” Jack hastened to appease his partner, managing to look completely sincere. “But we got bored inside that cold, double-isolated escaping-pod room you tried to lock me in –without much success I should add- so…” He looked down at his son and poked his cheek to get his attention on him unsuccessfully. “We only wanted to seed dad Ianto, isn’t it Steven?”

The dark haired boy peeked behind himself, away from his little happy hideout on the front of Jack’s shoulder, to give a way too innocent blink to his younger father, with a persuasive technique that could already match Jack’s.

In front of his son‘s big pleading eyes, Ianto finally capitulated, and he approached his partner to take the child in his own arms, huffing in displeasure and shaking his head.

“You two are getting spoiled. Besides, we really should find a way to make Steven call us differently or I get a feeling he will end up calling you _mam_.” The Welshman pointed out, settling his son comfortingly against his chest and dropping a small kiss on his head.

“Why should he?” Jack asked candidly, placing a hand on his bulging stomach. The only answers Ianto granted him were a risen eyebrow and a frown.

“No, really” The captain insisted. “He’s seen alien races with males bearing children and, as you can testify by yourself, no one ever bothered with different names for same sex parents!”

“Jack” Ianto said slowly, trying to make his lover see how he was missing the basic point of what he was saying. “I wasn’t making it a general issue on same sex-parenting, I meant that Steven _specifically_ will do that. I _know_ my own child.”

Jack simply groaned and dismissed Ianto’s worries with a flick of his hand.

“Back to this mess” Jack changed quickly the subject, approaching the holographic monitors Ianto had set around the glass panel. “What do you have that can put an end to my endless boredom?”

Ianto sighed and slowly advanced towards the console to stand next to Jack.

“On Earth the alarms are still the same as always and they keep pointing here, but… I simply can’t understand _why_ this should be dangerous or _how_ this is connected to the rift back in Cardiff.”

“What about the other Torchwood satellites?”

“Satellite Two isn’t even here yet, because they were on that Scottish colony when the rift spiked last time, and Satellite Four… Well, we lost them. Again.”

“Should I ask the crown to gather enough forces for a Satellite One? It would be nice a steady back-up service straight from the mainland.”

“Don’t bother, I don’t think that would be of any help at the moment. We’re the only Torchwood needed here. The rift is _our_ responsibility after all, even if the flares are keeping us away from home for more than we signed up for.”

Ianto’s blue eyes stared vaguely at the nebula, but, considering the sad look in his eyes, Jack knew that it was not the pink mass of gasses he was seeing, but their own blue planet, almost half a galaxy away.

“We’ll go back to Earth, Ianto.” Jack told him warmly, encircling his shoulders with his arm and making him lean towards his chest. “I’m sorry I got you trapped here in outer space.”

“Don’t be, Jack. It’s not your fault and I already know the drill. One day Earth itself will end up completely deserted and destroyed… I just wonder if I’ll last long enough to be there with you to see its last minutes.”

“I don’t know if I would like that, Ian. Of course I would love to still have you with me at the time, whatever form we will take but… Earth is your home. Yours way more than mine.”

“It’s our graveyard, you weren’t wrong when you said that to Gwen.” Ianto corrected him, moving a little more to the side to rest his head sadly against his partner’s shoulder. Seeing his lover like that hurt Jack deeply, and he automatically tightened his grip on his shoulder as he rested his chin on Ianto’s head, hoping to offer some kind of comfort.

One of the computer programs, still running in the background, chose that exact moment to finish its elaboration and its alarm began beeping for attention, startling Steven who threw instinctively his arms around his father’s neck. Ianto tightened his grip on his son and ran expectantly to the intermittently lighting up panel half across the room, hoping that finally the systems had detected something useful.

“There’s a crack inside” Ianto told Jack, his voice wavering uncertain. “…And something else.”

“Do we have readings or images of what we’re talking about?” Jack asked, walking as quickly as he could towards his partner.

Ianto used his free hand to press a couple of buttons and then waited for the results, as he absentmindedly brushed his cheek against Steven’s and whispered soothing words in Welsh to reassure the still unsettled child.

“Nothing yet” He said eventually, as soon as the results appeared. “The probes are still too far to get any specific detail on the internal composition.”

“Still you’re too worried not to have any idea of what this could be about, don’t you?” Jack considered as he took in his partner’s concerned features.

“Some of the readings we’re getting are off” Ianto explained, at least a little more focused now that Steven seemed to have quietened a little, but still looking extremely worried. “It’s like inside there’s also something that’s not really there.”

“Ianto, that might simply mean that _nothing_ is there except the in-space crack and the alien monster or whatever it is the thing we already identified with the heat scans” Jack tried to reassure him.

“What if it’s not, Jack?” Ianto argued, seeming slightly in panic. “Last time I saw those kinds of readings… I was still working at Torchwood One.”

Jack stared at his partner, trying to make sense of his words, until eventually it clicked.

“The Daleks via the void you mean. You think there might be another void ship inside?”

“I have no idea. And I don’t even think I would be able to do something if that’s really the case.” Ianto explained, shrugging. “I didn’t work on that project, you’re just lucky that I was just curious enough that I liked to spy on the other teams. Still, you know… I’ve just been wondering… If there could be things like… cracks to the void? That would explain most of the readings, because then the rift in Cardiff would be acting more as an alarm resonating than as a GPS like we thought until now.”

Jack had to think about that possibility a lot, but he himself wasn’t sure if such a thing could actually exist or not. He personally had never seen one, but the only person he knew he could hold such knowledge was far away, lost in space, and he couldn’t rely on him. His first lessons on the workings of the universe, though, had more or less told him that everything was possible unless you could see survival faults on the logic and mechanisms concerning the worlds and their relations to one another inside the same system (1)… It was 51st century school knowledge, but as far as he knew, it had solid scientific basis.

“It might… I hope is not though.” Jack had to say eventually. “That’s the reign of the dead, who knows what could come through this time. Back with One the fabrics of reality were collapsing-”

Ianto’s eyes widened as he turned to stare properly at his partner. “I need to get you two out of here. It’s not safe!”

“Calm down and don’t panic” Jack told him putting both his hands on his lover’s shoulders to stop him before he rushed away to set off the alarms and give the order to restrain him in his room. “We sent the probes, and until they can actually send us useful information or images there’s nothing we can do. Do you agree with me?”

Ianto nodded, unsure if he could trust his partner to keep a neutral view on the situation despite their obviously different ideas on what to do to ensure Jack’s safety. He gulped, trying not to think about the worst case scenario that might be happening: this was his first real official high-level danger emergency situation he was facing as the actual Torchwood 3 boss, and he couldn’t be really one step away from meeting again with the Daleks. It wasn’t possible! What would happen on his second official mission? Cybermen!?

Seeing his lover’s panic increase through his teary eyes, Jack tried to smile at him in what he hoped was a reassuring way.

“I suggest we just keep retreating as you’ve already ordered. We’ll see this from afar, ready to confront everything that’s going to come onto us and, just in case something that requires immediate intervention happens, we set the high speed drones ready to take off, ok? This way we can get involved with no risk for any of us or the people living and working for us in this outpost.”

The Welshman took a moment to look outside again and reassure himself that the situation actually appeared as steady as Jack was describing it, and then he went to the nearest wall to click the big red button that activated the intercom. “Officer Williams, control room. Report.”

Not too long afterwards, the sliding doors opened and a tall man in his mid-thirties entered the room. His long white hair swung behind him, tightened in a short pigtail as his green eyes took in his surroundings, seeming disconcerted.

“Uncle Jack?” He noticed surprised. “I thought uncle Ianto had put you on bed rest once and for all. Do I need to call Ann?”

“I’m pregnant, Rhys, I don’t need constant medical surveillance!” Jack snapped annoyed at the Welshman.

“My wife used to say the same thing, you know? She was Scottish though, so in the end when she actually _had_ complications while delivering my son, she ended up blaming my work and me for not being there. Wouldn’t want that to happen to you too, you know?”

Jack grinned at him. “My partner is Welsh though, as you both love to remind me. Although I highly doubt that the problem with your wife was the fact that she was Scottish.”

“Yeah, I agree. Nationality would have been an important issue there only if she had been English.” Ianto pointed out, earning a sincere nod from Rhys too.

“Oi, you two!” Jack argued exasperated. “It’s the year 2495, you can’t really still blind yourself in this Wales and Scotland against the world!”

“It’s not against the world, it’s just against England.” Rhys clarified, and it was Ianto’s turn to nod his approval.

Jack scoffed and stared down at his son, who was curiously staring alternatively at his fathers and Rhys, trying to figure out what they were arguing about. He poked his little nose and challenged him with determinate eyes. “You will grow up like a good half Welsh-boy without prejudices, not like your dad Ianto and uncle Rhys, won’t you?”

Steven blinked a couple of times, wondering at the meaning behind his father’s words, then he simply nodded to make him happy, blushing and hiding his face again behind Ianto’s shoulder.

“You should talk sometimes, _cariad_.” Ianto reprimanded his son lightly. “We all know you can, you don’t have to be shy.”

“I bet you simply had him confused between English and Welsh.” Jack quipped at his partner, who glared back at him.

“He merely took after me,” Ianto protested, frowning as he held his son even tighter. “Not everyone is as chatty as you are. Making him learn Welsh as well as English has nothing to do with this. Wales has always been bilingual since the annexation to the British Empire and no one ever got _confused_!”

Rhys laughed at Jack’s despondent pout, but then decided that he had better make everyone focus back on the actual reason he had been summoned to the control room.

“Sorry to intrude in your little educative disquisition, but I guess you needed me here for something?”

“Yeah” Ianto said quickly, back to professional mode in record time. “I need you to prepare the drones for immediate departure. We’re retreating, so we’ll need them ready to go in case something happens.”

“Ook” Rhys answered taking out his controller and scribbling on it with a small stick. “I’ll turn them on right now, so they will be ready for manual charging by the time I get there.”

“Thank you, Rhys” Ianto told him and then turned at the screens, regarding again the data with a loud sigh. “Still nothing there...”

“Other things you want me to-” Rhys had to hold himself to the nearest surface as the whole satellite shook vigorously, preventing him from finishing his enquiry. “Woah!”

Ianto was quick to take Jack with his free arm to stabilize him before he fell, and then held him tight against himself as another sudden movement made him slam backwards against the console.

“Jack!? Are you all right?” Ianto yelled despite the pain in his lower back where he had hit the hard metal, caressing his lover’s hair and scanning his face with worried eyes in search of any sign of distress.

“I’m fine.” Jack answered, grasping Ianto’s shirt and waist for dear life. “Steven?”

The child simply whimpered in fear, hardly daring to peek from the safety wall of his father’s shoulder. Ianto gave him a quick check anyway, but to his relief he really seemed just scared.

“He’s fine, but you two should really get out of here, so I can focus on this mess.”

“You need my experience, you know that.”

“Well, make sense of this then!” Ianto yelled, pointing to the screens around them full of confused weaving colourful shapes.

“An electromagnetic distortion?” The captain asked to no one in particular.

“Looks like it.” Ianto confirmed, a little more calmly this time. “But there was nothing inside that mass of gasses that could have caused it.”

“Rhys!” Jack called behind them. “Everything worked fine downstairs before we called you here?”

“Yeah” The Welshman answered, as he tried to set in order his own clothing. “Nothing seemed weird or unusual and the radars didn’t signal interferences of any sort.”

Ianto mulled that over and then gave his attention back at the keyboard to activate one of the emergency protocols. He entered a couple of codes and soon, much to his personal satisfaction, all the screens began showing again images and data.

“We’re lucky we’ve got screens for basics interferences, but this still doesn’t solve the problem.” He commented. As he read through the new batches of data though, his jaw dropped in disbelief. “I can’t believe it! Still nothing! And why are we not accelerating backwards, I gave the order hours ago!”

Ianto’s glare stopped on Rhys, who simply stared back at him with his mouth opened.

“I set the engines to go full force. Look here, they’re still active and still going as you ordered!” He argued, showing Ianto a 3D hologram of the engine room with his controller.

“Still we’re not moving right now.” Jack muttered, as he redirected one of the near satellites CCTV to have a close up on their own.

Ianto paled seeing the images on the screen and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to sort out his priorities.

“We need to evacuate Satellite Three, I won’t have other deaths on my name” His eyes opened up again as he stared determined into Jack’s ones. “Especially not the death of someone I love, I don’t care if you will come back.”

“You don’t have the authority to order me to retreat, but you’re free to organize evacuation for the rest of the crew.” Jack stated in a tone that didn’t leave much room for discussion. “You’re right, we shouldn’t take chances.”

“We might not have much choice on that.” Rhys cut in as he pushed the button to open the sliding door without results. “We’re trapped.”

“What!?” The two immortals asked at the same time.

Ianto tried to make their comms and experimental earpods work, tried the communications through the console and everything else he could think of, but everything seemed dead.

“Ann?” Jack called through his wrist-strap after also the intercom failed to assist them. “Ann, can you hear me?”

“ _Hardly, but I can make sense of what you are saying at least._ ” The voice answering through the VM was weirdly distorted, so much that it would have been hard to even identify the voice as human, much less as a woman’s.

“Can you open any of the doors?”

“ _Negative, uncle Jack._ ”

Jack swore under his breath, but tried to not sound too concerned to not worry the young nurse too much. “Keep your eyes open, but try to not fret too much, because we’re working to solve things up here. See around if someone needs you, I’ll call you back in a short while.”

“ _All right. Later then._ ”

Once he closed the communications, Jack slapped his wrist-strap in anger. “This is not supposed to break, damn it!”

“Since we’re still down, there _must_ be something else interfering other than the electromagnetic field.” Rhys reasoned.

Jack’s eyes went from Rhys to Ianto, who simply held tight to his son as he tried to comfort himself more than the child, guilt written all over his face.

“Ianto, if the end of the world happens during your shift you didn’t make it happen.” Jack reprimanded his partner. “Now, I need you to tell me how much you actually peeked inside that Torchwood One project that was not yours.”

“Enough to understand we should have stopped playing with it?” Ianto offered even more guiltily.

“If we were talking about, I don’t know…” Jack gestured vaguely at his partner. “Void interferences. Could you find a way to avert them?”

Ianto stared at him with his mouth slightly open as he processed correctly what Jack had just asked him to do. “Stop a flux that doesn’t have shape, consistency, smell… That simply doesn’t exist!?”

“Was that a no?” Jack questioned unsurely, never being one to doubt Ianto.

“Jack, I might be something near to a genius in tinkering with things once I work out the basics of something, but I’m only _human_.” The Welshman clarified, still earning only a doubtful risen eyebrow from his partner.

“I could still try to use the odds to our advantage and at least avert the consequences of its presence around us.” He admitted eventually.

Jack smirked satisfied at him. “I knew you could find a way out of this mess. I couldn’t have chosen a better husband.”

Ianto snorted and sat down in front of the main monitor, balancing safely Steven on his tight so that he could work faster with both hands. The little boy settled on his lap comfortably as he looked his father’s hands moving fast on the keyboards, holding tight on the hem of his jacket for good measure.

“Still not your husband.” Ianto took his chance to snap at Jack while smiling indulgently at his amazed son. “As you kindly put it once, it will never happen.”

“Does this mean I have to cancel everything I set up for the next month?” Jack asked uncertain with a sheepish smile on his face that went completely unnoticed by his partner.

“You can hardly cancel delivering our kid only because I stated the obvious.” Ianto answered evenly as he quickly kept entering new lines of code inside the already existing ones of the core defence programs. “Besides, if Ann’s right you won’t last until the end of _this_ month with a belly that big, let alone try to postpone it after the next one.”

“You really know how to make a man feel loved.” Jack quipped with a frown as he crossed his arms over his chest the best he could, eliciting a small chuckle from his partner.

“I learned from the best then.”

“Still I wasn’t talking about the little girl delivery.”

“Then what was that about?” Ianto asked, without paying much attention to him as he wetted his lips while double checking the new changes and opening the files with the readings to make the link between them and the program.

“Well” Jack said vaguely, blushing a little embarrassed. “I thought that by the next month we’ll be with two kids already…”

Ianto raised a doubtful eyebrow at what Jack was trying to say, but kept staring at the screen, wondering if he had accurately changed every single line of code that needed rewriting. “Jack, we already have Steven, one more won’t be such a big change after the first months of mad hysterics.”

“Yeah, well…” Jack tried to continue. “But we’ll be _finished_ with having children. For now. If you remember it well, as much we were both enthusiastic about Steven when I told you, it’s not like we _consciously_ decided to have him. This time you have to admit that it _is_ a little different.”

“So, what’s your point?” Ianto asked, frowning deeply as he sincerely couldn’t get a hold of what his partner was babbling about. “I hope you’re not thinking about making preferences between the kids only because we chose to have one, but not the other.”

“I would never Ianto!” Jack bit back, deeply offended. “I was only pointing out that even thought I didn’t _want_ to have children, now we actually _chose_ to have one.”

“So? Do you want to celebrate you breaking your self-imposed taboo?” Ianto teased, smirking as the program correctly reactivated and began slowly but automatically setting all the new changes through the whole defence system. 2% done, 98% still to go.

Jack sighed, physically exhausted by the argument.

“Let’s say that I thought it would be a good idea if I broke _both_ my self-imposed taboos since I had already dishonoured _one_.” He snapped angrily.

“Wait” Ianto said plainly, finally getting through Jack’s convoluted speech now that he could give his partner his whole attention. “You can’t be saying what I’m thinking you’re saying.” The more he spoke, the more dangerous his tone became, much to his partner’s worry.

“And… What are you thinking?” Jack asked so innocently that basically answered Ianto’s unspoken question with only that single sentence.

“There’s no way this is happening!” Ianto yelled at him, taking care to cover his son’s ears as he took Steven again in his arms and stood up. “Not like this! Is this your idea of a proposal!?”

“I didn’t think I needed to actually _ask_ my partner of almost five centuries to marry me! I wanted for it to be a nice surprise, like taking you out on a date when you didn’t expect it!”

“You _asked_ for our first date, if you remember correctly! What’s the point of a _proposal_ if not asking! You’re meant to ask and wait properly for a yes or no!”

“Oh, was I going to get a yes or a no answer _this_ time? You never gave me any, what’s the point of asking!?”

“Well this was your last chance, and you blew it!”

Rhys, who had been the unwilling spectators of his bosses’ row, bit hardly his lower lip to prevent himself from laughing at them or asking the couple the obvious, until in the end he simply sighed and gave up to the one question that wouldn’t get him fired.

“Sorry to interrupt” He tried, gaining two furious pair of blue eyes staring at him. “But are you going to get married then?”

The two angry stares melted in a pool of embarrassment. They both blushed and lowered their eyes, and then Jack pretended to check the outcome of Ianto’s updates, whilst Ianto tormented his lips searching a nice way to put it.

“Well… You know…” The Welshman blabbed uncertainly. In the end he simply looked up at his team-mate with big hopeful eyes and a happy shy smile on his lips, nodding shyly.

“Then, congratulations!” Rhys told them happily, hugging Ianto since he was incidentally the nearest one. “If we’re still all alive and well, I hope you’ll invite all of us too.” 

“Speaking of which,” Jack said, watching closely as the progress bar on the screen finally hit the 100% and a blip echoed inside the control room.

Rhys rushed by the door and tried again the opening button: the familiar sound of the two metal panels sliding away welcomed them. “Uncle Ianto, you did it!”

“Then let’s head out! I’m going to activate the alarms for evacuation.” Ianto said approaching again the console. “Jack, please take Steven with you and go. I’ll be fine here alone.”

Jack turned to stare seriously at his fiancé and at their little son, who was back again gripping tightly Ianto’s shirt. He couldn’t help finding the picture in front of himself endearing.

“No. _You_ go, Ianto. Leave Rhys to command the drones and check the perimeter of the nebula. You take care of the evacuation.”

“Jack, there’s no way I’m leaving you behind in a normal situation, much less eight months and a half pregnant!”

“I won’t be staying behind either” Jack said, offering him a small smile. “I’ll just use the emergency program to call the Doctor and then I’ll follow you out. If the Daleks happen, there’s nothing we can do by ourselves.”

“You‘re better be serious about this.” Ianto warned, staring at his lover with extremely worried eyes as he put his free hand on Jack’s stomach. “I trust you to remember you’re not your own person right now.”

“Of course. That’s why it’s hard for me to do this.” He told his fiancé, leaning towards him enough to leave a small kiss on both Steven’s and Ianto’s head. “Now go, the sooner everyone is out of here the better. We’ll both be fine and out of here soon.”

Ianto nodded and exited the control room along with Rhys. When Jack was sure that his family was far away enough, he approached resolutely the control panel and pushed the isolation button.

No matter how fast Ianto tried to run back before being trapped outside, his cries for Jack were closed off behind two heavy layers of Martian steel.

**T.B.C.**

(1) What Jack is actually referring to is Einstein’s theory of _Restrict Relativism_ that basically states that the only  limit to ‘everything is possible’ is the coherency among the different laws and means you’re using to get the data you’re using to develop your speculation. Such a theory was afterwards extended to include the practical laws of the universe becoming the theory of _General Relativism_. I guessed that by the 51 st century they could have expanded it even more to actually include the very existence of different laws and systems throughout the universe. However, considering the messes made by Jack pre-Doctor, I took the liberty to speculate that he didn’t pay too much attention to how things worked even at school. Let’s say that his ignorance of the basics security systems with the Chula ship and his lack of interest for the technology behind nanogenes and chameleon circuits helped validate my theory. Sorry Jack.


	4. Fifty shades of violet

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

 

As soon as his fiancé's cries tuned out and the guilt became less overwhelming, Jack took from his pocket two items he had thought he would never need during a mission in deep space. He accurately checked if the small torchlight he had with him was still working and applied a round dark filter over the lens.

When he pointed it towards the big windowpane that let them see the nebula, a big flying monster similar to a harpy appeared in front of him in different shades of violet. The nebula hid the most part of it, but Jack could still see it clearly, as it shook proudly its wings to guard a shiny white thread similar to a crack on the wall.

"I knew you would be there." Jack told the monster as he unsheathed his Syrian gun, uncaring that his audience was on the other side of the window and couldn't hear him at all. "You might think your invincible thanks to your little trick, but even though you feed off the void, you're still quite average as a life form. You're big, I'll give you that, but still quite average… If I'm not wrong."

He interrupted his dramatic monologue to reach some dark and thick straps from beneath the console, and then looked back up at the nebula, smirking dangerously. Without the help of the torchlight, the big mass of gas seemed completely harmless, just like it had appeared to them for as long as they'd studied it, but he was very conscious that the monster was still hiding there now that he had the chance to prove its existence.

Therefore, Jack found no qualms to keep going his dramatic speech despite the lack of a real audience.

"I'm sorry, but you're making that breach a little too big for my likings and we can't have that, can we?" Jack continued as he secured himself to the control panel with the extra-strength safe belts he'd just gotten himself, taking care to activate the software embedded in them that was supposed to shield him like and invisible spacesuit.

He took out from his other pocket a small package and recharged his weapon with the colourful bullets contained in it. Jack was quite sad knowing that one of those bullets -if not all, along with his brand new hyper technological gun- would soon be lost to him, but he knew that the T.A.R.D.I.S., some years ago, had lead the Doctor to them for a reason and for that same reason the Time Lord had gifted those bullets to him: he could only hope that he had read the situation properly and that now was the proper time to use them.

When all his preparations were finished, he pointed both the torchlight and his gun towards the alien, getting ready not only to shoot but also to give a sequel to his dramatic monologue.

"Let's see if my data on your species are correct and if the Doctor was right when he gifted me these the last time we saw each other." Jack said merrily to the monster with a nervous smirk. "A little anti-gravitational void-filled bullet to the big missy seated alone at table number 3."

As soon as he finished talking, the teasing and unsure light in his eyes disappeared as his expression turned serious and he got actually ready to act. His grip grew steadier on his gun and then eventually he shot the bullet with the determination and precision of a consumed sniper.

Jack took a big breath and braced himself for his own death as he followed with dread the bullet trajectory during the few milliseconds that took it to break though the reinforced glass of the space-ship windowpane as it had been made of butter.

However, he didn't manage to see it successfully making it out through the not-so-many miles of space too and cross the void harpy's head, uncaring of the laws of space and gravity. The different pressure inside the chamber created immediately tiny cracks on the whole surface of the glass panel, disintegrating it in a silent explosion made of shiny tiny sharps that only added more points of light to the already glimmering starry darkness of the open space.

The depth of the universe engulfed the sound of its disintegration as well as the loud cry of the monster falling inside the nebula. Its eyes blanched and its limbs descended into the stillness of death, while, with one final and silent explosion, Satellite Three lost the best of its Control Room.

* * *

 

The outpost wavered and a great number of different alarms resounded inside, mixing up their shrieks in a cacophony of irritating emergency messages.

' _Control Room damaged. Control Room damaged._ ' A computerized voice stated, voicing over all the noise and panicked cries of the crew.

Ianto wavered as he lost his balance while running in the opposite direction of the Control Room to find help and he tightened his hold on his son, urging him to cling to him as much as he could. As the quake continued, he gripped tightly one of the emergency pipes with his free hand and, following its way down the corridor, he finally reached one of the secondary communication boxes.

He opened it and quickly entered his access codes, hoping that the main computer knew what the hell was happening.

"Computer!" He cried inside the flat microphone of the panel. "Control Room status!"

' _Glass panel damaged. Outdoor boarding plane lost_ ' Was the plain answer he got.

Ianto stared at the box horrified and prayed that Jack had thought of some means of self-preservation and they weren't supposed to go search for him in the outer space or, even worse than that, inside the nebula.

"Ignore the boarding plane and give priority to the automatic repairs of the glass panel then!" Ianto yelled at the black and white box. "What are you waiting for!?"

' _Authorisation required: number 3-4-7…_ '

Ianto glared at the piece of tech and lost his calm once and for all. He knew that the bloody authorization system was necessary for the security of the Satellite, but if he was supposed to be there giving inputs to the computers during emergencies, why had they installed an artificial intelligence for?

"I don't care about your bloody authorization!" He screamed eventually. "Override everything, I'm in charge!"

After some silence and a few late blips later, the voice finally stated  _'Vocal access code: Ianto Jones. Overriding: approved._ '

Ianto took a deep breath and thanked God that they had thought about installing the vocal recognition program. He knew, however, that nothing was still 100% certain when their AI was involved.

"Hurry up!" He urged, glaring at the box.

' _Overriding: 30%. Overriding: 35%._ '

The slow progression unnerved Ianto even more, even more so when he thought about his dead fiancé currently floating in space… If things had gone well and he didn't explode with the outdoor platform.

Ianto wished for the advancement to be already over and that Jack was back with him in the safety of their personal rooms, hopefully locked up without any chance to get out for the next few years. Unfortunately, he could have none of what he wanted: his lover would certainly find his way to escape even if he managed to lock him inside, and he had no chance to get him back until the bloody and seemingly infinite chanting of the computer would be over and the way cleared.

"Bloody hell" Ianto cried out in anguish. "I'll demolish you and fucking Captain Jack Harkness when all of this is finished!"

He tried to punch the offending device to make it work faster, but a hand stopped him just in time before he could damage it, unwillingly letting the computer free to reply coolly at Ianto's words.

' _Demolishing: not recommended. Overriding: 40%._ '

He glared at the box and tried once again to knock some sense into it, but the young woman that had prevented him punching it the first time kept stopping him with determination.

Being things this way, Ianto decided to simply give up, turning to pout at the girl still keeping a firm hold of him. Their eyes met and he gulped at the challenging stare his black skinned  _niece_  was giving him as she threw back her long red hair in a fit of anger.

As soon as she was certain he'd given up, she let him go and hastily took a by now terrified Steven from his arms, not lowering her eyes from him even for a second.

"You give the kid to me and  _then_  risk electrocution,  _uncle_  Ianto!"

Ianto just rolled his eyes, doubting that his punch would have destroyed their sturdy teach, even though he had to admit that the chance of electrocution might have occurred. Ann had been right stopping him and taking his child away. Damn it.

He lowered his head in defeat and shock realizing what could have happened just because he couldn't keep a cold mind on the situation now that he had been separated from his partner and had to rescue him. He had no idea of how much it would have hurt him getting Steven wounded.

Especially now that his other father was lost to them, he should have known better than putting him in danger. Their team, however, was their godsend for these kind of situations, even though he was the one supposed to have more experience and leadership.

Steven, on the other hand, didn't like the current arrangement much even though it was designed to protect him, and tried to free himself from Ann's hold, kicking and punching her desperately.

" _Taaaaaad_!" He cried, throwing his hands towards Ianto in a desperate attempt to get back to his father.

Ianto sighed, staring guiltily at his child. What kind of father was he to not have noticed how scared his kid had been? Steven had a habit to stick with his parents when things got dangerous and scary, even though he paid no mind to be tossed from one Torchwood officer to the other when things seemed manageable.

They kept allowing that on purpose, hoping that he would be safer with them if things got off their hands, but now Ianto had Jack to get back and Satellite Three to run through the emergency: keeping the child with him would only get Steven hurt if not plainly killed. He should have known better.

Ianto let the communication box alone for moment to focus on his crying child and tried to reassure him, caressing kindly his head, even though he didn't make a single move to take him back from Ann's embrace.

"Steven? Steven calm down and look at your  _tad_?" Ianto told him softly and waited until his son actually stared up at him with wide teary eyes before smiling back at him reassuringly. "Stay a moment with  _aunty_  Ann, will you?  _Tad_  Ianto needs to get your  _tad_  Jack back."

After a long while of staring and sniffing, finally Steven nodded at him and let the young nurse nestle him more comfortably in her arms, rubbing his wet and blotchy cheeks on her breast as he took a firmer grip of her vest.

Once she was certain that the child was quiet and safe once again though, Ann's glare was back on Ianto, showing him her utter disappointment at his words from before.

"Get him back!?" She yelled at him. "Where the fuck is that bloody partner of yours!?"

Ianto couldn't really blame her for being furious, even though in the back of his mind he quite registered that they all should really stop swearing freely in front of the child. He simply gave her the most fake smile he could muster and crossed his arms on his chest.

"In the bloody Control Room."

Ann's dark eyes widened in shock and her mouth gaped open.

"You're kidding me!?" She cried, but then another quake shook the Satellite, and she had to focus on grabbing the nearby emergency pipe to not fall down on the floor and roll away with the sudden movement. As soon as she felt steadier on her limbs and the shaking had subdued, she stared back once again at Ianto. "I managed to keep him alive for the last eight months, he can't do this to me now!"

"You tell  _me_!" Ianto answered, almost falling on the floor as another more violent tremor suddenly followed. He spared a quick glance in Ann's direction and was glad to see that both her and Steven were alright, even though he knew that things were far to be ok as they were. "Damn, we need to seal the Control Room soon or we'll drift in space!"

As if on cue, the usual electronic voice of the AI stated dutifully ' _Overriding: 90%_ '

Ianto knew that if he didn't do something with himself soon he was going to destroy the piece of tech shred by shred, so he used the flat microphone to give orders to the crew instead. It was just a general reminding of what to do during emergencies –he couldn't do much more than that until the Control Room turned functional and the shaking subsided- but it worked perfectly to reassure the inhabitants of Satellite Three that at least stopped yelling in fear. When he was sure that he could do nothing more out there, he allowed himself to start panicking again for what was happening to Jack.

"I'll go back" He told Ann, letting her see the worry written in his eyes. "I need to know if he's all right."

" _Uncle_  Ianto!" Ann called him, grasping his shoulder with her free hand before he could go away. "He  _can't_  be all right getting himself killed like that. Ask Rhys to do this, you know it's not just Steven that doesn't need to see what has become of him, immortality or not."

Ianto freed himself resolutely, but, before he could move, another quake shook the outpost and Ann fell straight in his arms just before she could lose her balance completely and fall on the floor together with Steven.

Despite the near accident, Ann still stared at him meaningfully, waiting for whatever answer he could give her, but Ianto knew that he couldn't talk about some of Jack's gruesome deaths to her. To no one of his current teammates to tell the truth.

"I've seen him worse" Ianto eventually whispered to her, as he freed her from his grasp. He stared at her for some time more, clearly debating whether giving her a few more details or not, but then he just shook his head and left the heartfelt discussions for later: he had to find Jack. "I've got to go, I'm sorry"

He run as quickly as he could back to the Control Room, followed suit by Ann, who was more than just a bit worried to leave Ianto alone in such a state. No matter how cold and rational he could turn when he had to make decisions regarding the base, she knew too well that when something happened to a member of his family, her  _uncle_  could turn more than just a bit irrational.

Before they reached the door of the Control Room, a steady beeping added to the confusing mix of alarms, as the electronic voice on the speakers changed his monotonous statement in ' _Control Room glass panel: repairing. Control Room glass panel: repairing._ '

When they were only a few feet away from their goal, all the alarms quietened up and the whole outpost stopped shaking. Ianto took a moment to look around them and assure himself that everything was fine. He was pleased to notice, however, that everything really seemed to be working properly again and that something worse wasn't going to happen any time soon.

To add proof to his first check of his surroundings, the metallic voice coming from the speakers confirmed his suspicions: ' _Control Room glass panel: repaired. Torchwood Satellite Three fully operative. Please, enjoy your staying._ '

Ann sighed in relief, whilst Ianto wasted no time before closing the short distance between himself and the door and trying somewhat clumsily to open it in every way that crossed his panicked mind.

"Open the door!" He cried eventually, clicking desperately and unsuccessfully the opening button, but not really remembering if they had installed the vocal recognition sensors also to access the Control Room. If they had, however, it looked like to have been damaged by the incident, because the door simply stayed shut and unmoving despite his cries. "Open the damn door! Jack!"

Ann reached for him and tried to calm the man down, caressing his back with her free hand, but without many results.

"Give the computer some time to clear out the area from the dangers" She offered softly. "Then it will let you go inside!"

She didn't really know if that was the reason for the opening button not to work, but she was sure that, when Ianto had calmed down a bit confiding in whatever explanation she had provided, he himself would have found an alternative way to get inside.

Ianto, however, just ignored her altogether and started punching desperately the metal door dividing -hopefully- him from Jack. Not managing to make it bulge a single inch though, he eventually let himself slide down at its base, until he was miserably kneeling in front of it like a desperate man in front of his goddess.

"Let me in…" He barely had the strength to plead.

Rhys, who was coming back to check the damages after his trip to the Engine Room, saw the scene and quickly run to Ianto's side, shaking his head at his  _uncle_ 's desperate attempts to will the door open. He hastily took Ianto's identification card from his pocket and passed it through the long slit at the side of the door button.

"Mechanic overriding" He reminded him curtly.

With a soft beep, the mechanism recognized Ianto's superior access code and set itself in motion to finally open the sliding doors.

" _Uncle_  Jack can get himself killed as much as he pleases" The Welshman stated, urging Ann inside too. "But the kid is innocent and she needs help soon. Ann, give Steven to me and get that poor baby out of him. _I_  am taking responsibility of this, if  _uncle_  Ianto isn't going to."

Ann just offered him the child to take, frowning at her teammate.

"Really, Rhys, I don't think he would have something to question about it after the scare  _uncle_  Jack gave him"

They exchanged a quick nod and then joined Ianto inside the room as quick as they could, ready to fight with him if the chance arose.

Once inside, they could only take in the extensive damage that had occurred. Luckily, the explosion had ruined the structures outside the control room, but the insides, even though they were now almost bare of everything that wasn't the main computer, seemed to be fairly in the same shape they remembered.

Ianto thanked God that the shield system around the main computer had worked out properly, since he had no idea how he was supposed to even move the Torchwood Satellite without it, but then his complete focus turned on the body lying prone beneath the console.

"Jack!" He cried, rushing at his fiancé's side, trying to get Jack's corpse free from the bindings tying him to the computer the best way he could.

Ann took out of her pockets a stethoscope and a portable scanner shaped more or less like a pen and began checking Jack's conditions, whilst Rhys simply stared at the scene trying to shield Steven from seeing his father.

"Love, I'm here with you." Ianto cooed as soon as soon as he had managed to put aside all the safe belts, taking desperately Jack in his arms and caressing his hair. "Everything will be fine as always, sweetheart, you're not alone."

Ann stared at them, wondering if it was alright for her to intrude, but eventually she decided that more information on Jack's wellbeing would be welcomed, even though he was currently dead and wasn't going to have a nice wake up.

"He's healing." She reassured Ianto with a soft smile. "But I won't envy him when he'll get back to consciousness"

Ianto had no time to ask the young nurse what she meant with that statement that his fiancé came back to life in his arms… choking on his first breath of life as a searing pain crossing through his body overwhelmed him almost immediately.

Jack gripped desperately his lover's arm with a hand and his own stomach with the other, his eyes closing shut as he tried to cope with the intense ache piercing him from the insides.

"I didn't remember… it hurt this much…" The captain muttered, fighting with himself to not end up in tears in front of Ianto and the rest of his extended family.

"You caused yourself a miscarriage! Did you really believe that it would have been a trip to the Medusa Cascade!?" Ann reprimanded him as she checked his conditions again with the few instruments she always kept with her. "Now keep quiet and endure the pain, because I don't trust to give you anything until I'm sure that the child will be all right."

"You're a cold woman, Officer Jones…" Jack whined, hiding his face in the crook of Ianto's neck. "You took the worst out of both Donna and Martha."

"What were you thinking!?" Ianto broke the argument, tightening his grip on Jack despite the small tremors of fear and rage shaking his frame. His voice was supposed to echo his anger, but it actually just sounded hurt and hollow. "I had nothing to lose… You could have told me your plan and I could have done it instead of you…"

"I would have never let you die consciously, Ianto…" Jack protested, opening his eyes and moving a bit to stare properly at his fiancé and show him the truth behind his words.

Ianto had really to fight with himself to not be deeply touched by the sentiment considering the situation, but eventually the knowledge of what had actually happened and, more than that, of what  _could_  have happened won over Jack's reasoning.

"Jack, I appreciate the feeling, but since you know that I dislike  _you_  dying as much as you dislike  _me_  dying, you should have tried to be sensible!" He protested. "You're a father, you should know to put the kids first, not try killing one of them intentionally! No matter if your body will still manage to save her!"

Jack took a moment to swallow as he grimaced through the following sting of pain, and then stole a glance in Steven's direction, before looking once again his lover in the eyes.

"That's exactly why I did it." He admitted weakly. "The kids would not be safe stuck with only me if something not reversible were to happen to you. My Alice was not wrong when she said I'm dangerous, you're their only hope… as much as mine."

"There would be only one kid to protect if something were to happen to you at the moment!" Ianto argued, his eyes widening at his lover's unbelievable logic.

Hundreds years had passed, so he couldn't really believe that what had happened before they were even properly together was still affecting Jack this much. Worse than that, he guessed that the real problem lay even before that time, considering how his fiancé was unwilling to talk about his life before meeting the Doctor, no matter how many times Ianto had asked him during these years.

"We're hard to break, don't worry-" Jack had to stop abruptly, as another twinge of pain crossed his stomach, and then tried to cover up his wrecked status with a laugh. "You see? The little missy is already putting up a fight."

Ianto snorted at that.

"She's making clear that her father is an idiot!" He protested, tightening his grip around his fiancé's shoulders and resting his forehead against Jack's, as he thought about what he could do to distract his lover from the pain and himself from having hysterics.

"What happened?" Ianto asked eventually, hoping that the change of topic and the softer tone could be the key to help Jack until fully healed. "How did you save us?"

"Killed the void harpy" Jack muttered through his teeth. "She was feeding off the void energy from the breach. We're still not safe actually. That monster made the crack bigger and not even a small crack would be harmless."

Ianto thought about the implications of it and tried to put them together with their work during the last few months.

"So… The void breach connected itself with the rift in Cardiff and it activated our alarms… Is that why we kept having those weird readings from both the rift and the nebula?"

"The nebula is actually the harpy's nest. It's located so that it would reflect our means to investigate it in order to shield the breach. She wanted to protect her food… but it somehow sent the message that a dysfunction to the void was happening to our rift thought the alteration to the time flux… I think"

Ianto raised an eyebrow at his fiancé, eyeing him distrustfully.

"You know an awful lot of things for someone claiming to have no clue of what was happening until you closed me out the Control Room." He reprimanded Jack, eliciting a soft cracking laugh from him.

"I read something 'bout them when I was little. Hoped I was wrong."

"How do we seal this, Jack?" Ianto whispered softly, not actually expecting an answer, but hoping to keep him talking. He lowered his head so that his forehead would touch Jack's, and tightened his hold on him as Jack closed his eyes and almost bent down in pain as another twinge stabbed his stomach painfully.

"The harpy itself should take care of it." Jack managed to breathe out after a while, still unable to move a single muscle as the pain seemed to have frozen his whole body. "Once she gets inside the breach… the void will react. The breach will seal itself… We only need to keep an eye open in case something gets out during the blast."

"Blast!?" Ianto yelled, staring wide eyed at his distressed partner as another layer of worry added to the previous ones over his face. "Rhys! The readings!"

The younger Welshman approached the console and commanded the zooming in on the probes via keyboard, but the images he got from them seemed in no way different from the ones they were seeing right before all this mess happened.

"Nothing 'ere." He reported.

"You're not going to… see it like this. The filter…" Jack tried to explain in between the searing pangs, now too close to one another for his likings. He buried his face on his fiancé's neck to hide the few tears falling as he tried to steady his voice and breathing. "Heck, it has been sucked outside with my new gun…"

Steven, who had been watching closely his fathers from above Rhys's shoulders for some time, quickly free himself from the man's hold and rushed to them to throw his tiny arms around Jack's neck and bring him some comfort the only way he knew.

"Can I help? Kiss it better?" The child asked with a serious and worried expression on his face.

"I'll be fine, darling." Jack answered him, trying to smile reassuringly at him despite knowing that his child was far too smart for it. "Me and your little sister both."

"But you're having pains like a  _mam_!" Steven argued back, with a frown that remembered him a lot of Ianto and proving Jack's point faster than he could.

"Steven's not wrong,  _uncle_  Jack." Ann cut in concerned, as she took another scan of him. "This is too much stress on you and the baby, no matter if you managed to avoid losing her thanks to your body fighting off the miscarriage. I say that as soon as those twinges leave you alone for a decent amount of time you're in for C-section, old man."

Jack snorted at the nurse and glared weakly in her direction.

"Oh yeah, let's pretend these are contractions."

"Yeah, let's pretend that those are contractions, that you managed to keep yourself and your baby alive through the whole term and that you're the mother to your children you're supposed to be!" She snapped at him, arms on her chest as she stared down at him reproachfully. "This surely would make everything that's happening a little more manageable!"

"Mother… to your children?" Steven repeated thoughtful, raising an eyebrow as he stared measuring at his distraught father.

"You won't, little man" Jack warned him with a smirk, somehow sensing Steven's brain gears working around Ann's irate statement. "I'm still equipped like you and your dad Ianto."

Ianto raised his own sceptical eyebrow at him and grimaced, hiding a smart smile behind the mask of honest doubt. "Well, I can't bring a pregnancy to term and we still don't know about Steven."

As an answer, Jack glared up at him too. "You will side with me on this, if you want to make it to the aisle."

The Welshman smirked back at his fiancé and kissed him tenderly on his lips, before brushing away some damp strands of hair from his sweating forehead. He regarded him a long time, unsure about where his priorities had to lie in a situation like the one they were in, and then decided to leave Jack resting on Ann's bent knees. No one better than her could keep him checked, and the outpost wouldn't protect itself: solving the riddle about the harpy and the nebula would keep his family safer than whatever other thing he could do.

"I'll go and check the breach and the readings" He said, caressing Jack's jaw with the back of his hand before standing up. "I'm coming back soon."

As Ianto scanned the different screens and the newly repaired glass panel, he noticed something amongst the tangled mess of safe-belts that had saved his lover and a spontaneous idea passed through his mind.

He hacked inside their own probes system and modified a conspicuous part of the data elaboration code, thanking God he had decided to broaden his already vast knowledge to include computer programming. Tinkering with different alloys would be next on his agenda as soon as he finished the researches on chemicals derivatives and on the new fauna appearing on their Venusian colonies.

Within half an hour of writing for Ianto and of scorching pain for Jack, finally all the probes now managed to show the vague violet shape of the falling harpy.

"How did you manage that?" Jack asked astonished, his mouth hanging open as he stared at his fiancé and at the void arpy.

Ianto smirked and showed him the round filter Jack had thought lost in space.

"It was protected along with you by the seat-belts shielding system. I uploaded the material, analyzed it, took a couple of guesses and here's the result. Not much, but it's something to begin with." Ianto then stared back again at the screens a little worried. "How much time do you reckon we have?"

"Satellite Three is sturdy enough to survive the blast." Jack pointed out, trying his best to move from his uncomfortable position. "But let out the drones, anything could try to escape Hell during it."

"Drones wouldn't work against Daleks." Ianto deadpanned, not daring to take his eyes away from the screens.

"Then let's hope Daleks are not the ones getting out of there." Jack countered, finding no strength no suggest a back-up plan of any sort.

"I can see the crack!" Rhys interrupted them, showing them a tiny thread of light amongst the violet smoke, before taking a moment to stare speechless at its beauty. After all those years working for Torchwood and all the tales from his ancestors, he would have never guess that something could actually surprise him again, but then again that was why he had kept the family job.

"Oh my God, she's almost there." Ianto muttered, and rushed to the microphone connected to the speakers to give order to the whole crew to prepare themselves for another quake. Then he activated all the stabilizers he could think of and, stealing Rhys's control, he checked that this time the engines were actually moving their outpost backwards.

While  _uncle_  and  _nephew_  double checked the systems, a soft drumming noise made them stare back at where Jack was lying.

"Someone else will be almost there." Ann explained as she tapped furiously on her pad. "I'm asking the doctors to get the Operation Room ready and come to get him."

Ianto could see Jack flinch at the news.

"Look, I appreciate your good intentions" Jack growled, both his hands tightening protectively over his stomach. "But this kid is fine where she is."

"We'll see." She challenged.

The banter didn't even start, as a loud blast outside made everything shake violently again.

Ianto and Rhys reached for the console, but their grip wasn't solid enough to prevent them from falling on their knees. Ann held Jack tight against her, but it was the captain that, as he hugged Steven firmly to himself, somewhat managed to help her stay her ground and not roll away with the movement.

Whatever didn't crash or got sucked out when the glass window had shattered, was now collapsing on the floor and breaking, several parts of the main structure included.

Luckily no alarm activated, giving Ianto hope that nothing had ended up irremediably damaged. Even so, as soon as he could stand up and take back the command of the satellite, he activated the emergency check protocol in case someone of the crew had been injured and then set the route to bring their outpost to the nearest friendly planet in order to get it thoroughly checked.

"Rhys, send out all the drones for mechanics we have and make them check the whole framework, program them for emergency maintenance."

The younger Welshman nodded and quickly disappeared outside the room as a group of doctors entered in his place, glaring at their still whimpering captain as soon as they saw the pathetic state he was in.

"Jack, go with the doctors, I'll be soon there with you." Ianto said without even turning around, successfully preventing Jack's complaints at the medics' presence. "I'm certain the breach closed… If something dangerous had come out from there, I'm sure we would have known by now."

Jack rolled his eyes at Ianto's professionalism, but he was also reassured by it. His competence in handling dangerous situations was one of the reasons he had given him control of the Satellite even though he was still determined to keep Ianto as safe as he could.

He let the doctors try to help him standing up, but his attention was soon back to his fiancé as he heard him taking a deep intake of breath.

"Ianto?" Jack asked worriedly.

"Oh my God, that's how it happened." Ianto answered cryptically, urging his lover to follow his gaze to see what he was staring at.

As Jack finally noticed what was floating inside the fuzzy piece of space where the violet nebula was already dwindling, however, he understood his fiancé's words immediately.

"But those are…" Ann tried to say, staring shocked herself at the apparition. "But how?"

Before one of the two immortals could offer her an hypothesis though, a shining white-blue light blipped twice in front of them, successfully blinding them all for a few seconds and, when they could finally open their eyes again, whatever was there had already disappeared.

"The hell…" Ann swore, staring annoyed at the now empty space.

"A… Temporal displacement?" Jack wondered, as Ianto turned at his lover to gawk at him, panic clear in his eyes.

"We got help from the future for this in the past, but… Now that  _we_  are the future I have no idea of what and how we did it! I can't remember!"

Jack slowly escaped the doctors' grip and staggered a few feet towards the panicked Welshman to hold him tight.

"Shhh… It's alright, we'll dredge it up again. You know we will."

Ianto hugged him back and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around."

The captain stifled a pained laugh.

"I deserve my pain, I've been reckless." Jack admitted. "We'll find a way to give ourselves help, Ianto. Believe me. Help me get our son an adorable little sister to fuss over and then we'll focus on how to solve the displacement."

"But the bodies…"

"We  _can_  get them back Ianto. We already managed."

Ianto nodded and swiftly put his fiancé's arm around his neck to help him back towards the doctors.

"You're right, you've a sweet young lady to bring to the world. When you'll be sleeping I'll start working on this mess."

Jack smirked at him and obediently followed Ianto's lead to the medics, who were already preparing a stretcher for him. Ianto on the other hand couldn't even begin to believe he had said that after hundreds of years of putting their work before them and their family.

"And there we were wondering why it took so much to our future selves to help us out." Jack said shaking his head, apparently sharing Ianto's thoughts on the matter. "We would have never guessed that this was the reason."

Ianto serious expression melted in a sly grin as he helped his lover to lie on the stretcher with the doctors' help.

"Of course not, mister no weddings and no children." He teased. "How could we have guessed that you'd have got yourself a fiancé and two little devils."

"Steven is hardly a devil." Ann argued as she secured Jack to the stretcher, but she earned a raised eyebrow from both the little boy's fathers.

"As I said before, he took after me." Ianto pointed out with a knowing grin, taking his son's hand as they followed the medics bringing Jack outside the Control Room.

"Ann, you're in charge here." He ordered, nodding in the direction of the main computer as they left the room, and then turned to Steven. "You come with me, devil's spawn, I'm sure Mariko will be happy to find you a game to play with while I'm with  _tad_  Jack."

"But I'm getting a sister." Steven stated, knitting his eyebrows together and putting on a pensive doubtful expression that was all Ianto's.

"So?" Ianto asked, somewhat fearing what was going to come next.

"Can't I call him  _mam_?"

Ianto rolled his eyes as he patted Jack's hand sympathetically, biting his tongue to reprimand his son instead of telling his lover ' _I told you so_ '.

"No, you can't call him  _mam_ , Steven." Ianto said condescendingly.

"Why not!?" Steven protested, pulling on Ianto's hand to make his father look down at him.

"Because you can't call him  _mam_  if he's your  _tad_." Ianto tried to reason, still staring in front of himself and ignoring Steven's whining.

"I've already got you as my  _tad_ " Steven argued, pouting and tightening his grip on Ianto's hand. "It's not like I'll be without one!"

Jack growled from his stretcher, and his fiancé promptly took fully his hand in his, holding it firmly.

"How many chances are there that he'll keep his sister out of this nonsense?" The suffering captain asked desperately, staring up at his lover's amused eyes.

Ianto stare moved down from him to the little miniature copy of himself, who was smiling innocently and looking up at him with big pleading eyes, honestly hoping for his idea to be taken into consideration. He sighed, and then looked back at his lover.

"I'm sorry,  _cariad_. Absolutely none."

Jack closed his eyes tiredly and tightened his hold on Ianto's hand. "Do you realise that this makes you the devil, don't you?"

Ianto chuckled, smiling down at his lover. "Yeah, I know you're the simple minded between us."

The captain opened again his eyes and rolled them before glaring up at his fiancé.

"Talking about like father like son."

Ianto laughed openly at him this time, and tried to talk about something that would help him to distract his pained fiancé.

"Well if this is true then the odds say that she'll take after you." He pointed out, trying to imagine what their life would be if that happened to be true. "Steven will teach her to make the weirdest assumptions out of nowhere and…" Ianto took a second to think about what made Jack himself, and then frowned at him. "And she'll teach him to make weird sexual jokes and be abruptly crude in whatever he talks about."

Eventually, Ianto shook his head and sighed tiredly.

"Gods, we'll have to keep them grounded 24/7." He concluded.

Jack decided to not voice his opinion on the matter, already certain that his lover's prediction wasn't going to be far from the truth as well as he wasn't about to get out of that  _mam_  thing now that Steven had put his mind to it.

Once they had solved the time displacement problem, they would be up for the biggest predicament they had ever fallen in during five centuries together: being parents to  _two_  small copies of themselves.

Maybe it really was time for them to look into a vacation.

**T.B.C.**

 


	5. Botched endeavours

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

Jack thought carefully what had bought them on the familiar way to the Cardiff outskirts residential area, but he still couldn't understand what he had done so wrong to have karma bit him back in such a brutal way.

It all had begun with them getting bored.

Everything that had happened during Donna and Gwen's night shift seemed to have emptied even the rift reserves of spikes and anomalies. Usually, even though the rift activity predictor didn't show anything for the whole week, they always expected exceptions and they knew that if aliens didn't plan something, messes with unidentified tech were bound to happen. The girls' nocturnal patrol was the master example of that, since it had turned out an apocalyptic scenario despite the absence of new predicted activity.

The first thing they did was examining everything left at the base, in order to reassure themselves that the girls didn't get in touch with something dangerous, and then they fixed thoroughly the messed up archives. However, once they placed in the proper place the last device, there was nothing else left to do for them in that department.

Unusually, the telephone didn't ring with calls by UNIT or by the Police accusing them of negligence or asking for assistance on some cases. No meetings were planned, no paperwork needed to be done.

After double checking their priorities a second time, Ianto eventually seduced Jack into resuming their previously interrupted tryst and they had indulged themselves for a while in some little sex games Jack had came up with during the morning cleanings. Unfortunately, they couldn't keep them up for too much time: even as immortals their bodies still had human limits, and during the night before Ianto had already gone beyond them.

As they laid down naked in Jack's bunker, the partnership issue came out again so, once crossed out both actual work and sex from their daily list of things to do, they happily busied themselves with the preparations for it.

Jack remembered the length of time that had taken to his wife to prepare everything for their wedding, so he decided that beginning straight away wasn't a so bad idea. When in a short while Ianto had already three long lists of things to do, peoples to call and places to rent, he thought his worst fears confirmed and, as Jack looked at the enormous work that was waiting in front of them, he happily fooled himself into thinking that preparations alone would have kept them busy for the whole day.

Regrettably, the captain hadn't considered Ianto's practiced skills in organizing things and events, especially weddings, and they had actually ended up with nothing they could do before the end of the morning.

He had hoped that at least deciding which suit they would like or confirming catering and venue could take them sometime, but in the end it occurred to Jack that when Ianto said he knew everything he really meant it. As soon he had realized that food, drink and clothes weren't actually something he could have a say on, his lover had everything he deemed the best in town reserved in record time.

In the back of Jack's mind a small voice reminded him of the whole adaptation of Gwen's wedding Ianto had managed to do after she had gotten bitten by the Nostrovite the same day of her marriage, retcon after party included. Ianto's words had held some truth when he called himself the wedding fairy, too bad that his lover had confessed later on how he was meaning it more as in the mundane sense of ' _gay'_  than the proper meaning of ' _pixie'_.

Jack actually didn't know what to make of that knowledge now, since he realized he had been too keen at the time into worrying about Gwen's well-being and his own unresolved tensions with her to realize that the whole mess around their co-worker's wedding had been received by Ianto as a forced coming out, both to himself and the others. He felt bad for that lack of acknowledgement, but accidentally making his lover so jealous dancing with Gwen that the he had felt the need to overcome his denial and steal back his man, well, wasn't something he honestly wanted to change.

Back to  _their_  wedding, instead, despite Ianto's assurance that in case of need he could have sorted the fitting problem by himself, they eventually had gotten to the tailor for checking the tuxedoes anyway. A bit because they didn't want to be segregated underground if that was not necessary, but also because the Welshman was feeling a bit guilty, since he had noticed that he was the one organizing every detail and leaving little space for his boyfriend to contribute to it somehow. At least what they were wearing needed to be done properly and he wanted to be certain that what he had chosen for his beloved was the one perfect for him.

It obviously was. Jack had good sense of style when it came to dress himself and they both realized that he would manage to look fashionable also in a plastic bag, but Ianto really was something else.

Since they were already outside, they also went to check on the jeweller to see if they could already withdraw their engraved rings. When they exited the shop, their bands were already back on their fingers, since none of them could wait until the ceremony to use them, but they also didn't want to get a less expensive pair for the engagement period. Truth to be told, they didn't even know how things worked in partnerships: Jack had spent already too much time trying to understand the legal and practical side of the ceremony to waste even more time before proposing to Ianto.

They found themselves inside the S.U.V. parked in front of the jewellery store, wondering where to go next, whilst in the meantime half of Cardiff passing by their car wondered what interplanetary disaster were they fighting at the moment in such an uneventful day.

"Never had a birthday this quiet since I began working for Torchwood." Ianto stated plainly, slouching down on the driver's seat with no intention of starting the engine.

"I bet it's the rift way to wish you a happy birthday." Jack teased, smiling warmly at him. "Your second birthday as immortal."

"The first day since you actually proposed." Ianto pointed out with an adoring face and a bright smile on his lips.

"Can't believe we're actually going to tight up the knot in a month."

"It's already entirely too long" Ianto whispered in his ear, leaving a kiss on his cheek before claiming Jack lips in a way more heated one.

When they finally made themselves parting, Jack took a deep sigh and relaxed against his seat. "I would use the rest of the afternoon to look up a way to invite the Doctor at our stag party or at least at the actual ceremony, but I have no idea how to reach him. Martha's having troubles with that too, but at least she promised she would try."

Ianto turned serious and licked nervously his lower lip as he started the car and took the road to the outskirts with nonchalance. "Well, it would be nice if all our friends and families accepted our invitations."

Jack found himself laughing loudly at that. "Oh, yeah. I can clearly picture our girls, Martha and your sister trying to keep the male lap dancers for themselves."

That earned a quiet laugh and a wink from Ianto, who finally relaxed a bit. "We'll have to make do with just the female ones then if the girls get the strippers. I doubt their husbands will stay there to watch. They will be all for us."

"You're fine speaking about your sister like that?" Jack asked surprised.

"Well, I'm not one of those who believe their parents never had sex. And as for my sister, as long as she sleeps with her husband and not with you or me or even worse with us together I'm fine." Ianto complained.

"The things you think of, Ianto!" The captain chimed ironically, leaving silence filling the car as he wondered what they could do next.

"Jack?" Ianto tried unsure, earning a confused look from his boyfriend. "If I asked you something, would you grant it to me?"

"We're not going to cheat and go signing off the papers today, Ianto." Jack joked, staring curiously at his boyfriend. "We'll have to wait at least two weeks before that. Rules are rules, even for Torchwood."

"It's just…" The Welshman continued seriously. "I'd like to invite a person more, and since today we've nothing to do…"

"Who were you thinking about?"

Jack this time measured attentively Ianto's whole manners and noticed the deep layer of guilt over his face that made him realize immediately who his boyfriend was thinking about.

"You're not. Turn the car." Jack added slowly and coldly, trying to sound more as an uncaring boss than a thoroughly scared lover.

Ianto swallowed and tried to focus on the road in front of him. It was since the incident with the cyber-woman that he hadn't hear Jack sounding so dangerous talking with him. Non even during their frequent banters the captain had ever reached that same level of detachment: not when they were reassessing their trust on one another after that incident with Lisa, not when he had began agreeing with Owen after his demise, not when he tried to talk out Jack from keeping secret the Flat Holm establishment.

"Jack, you don't have to talk to her. Just give me a chance."

" _No_  means  _no_  Ianto. Why do you seem unable to understand this concept!? Just like when I refused to tell you that the Government had kidnapped my family and you just kept asking!" Jack looked closely as his boyfriend tightened his grip on the wheel of the car and tried to warm up a little his voice. "It's fine as long it's between the two of us, I know I'm usually wrong. Still, you've got to understand that some things are beyond. Your. Heroic. Strains!"

"It's not a strain trying to talk, at least I'm willing to try!"

"And what? Make her remember the way her own father ruined the only good thing in her life!?"

"That's preposterous." Ianto huffed with a grimace.

Jack glared at his boyfriend, visibly offended. "Speaks the man with all of the experience. Tell me, how many children do you have Ianto? And how many grandchildren did you get killed?"

"It's true I don't know anything about that, but we still share something. Just like you, I did get my boyfriend killed loads of time!" Ianto answered glacial, shutting up Jack once and for all.

"I'm sorry, Jack." He tried to amend. "That was uncalled for."

Jack simply crossed his arms over his chest and looked in front of himself at the familiar roads of the residential district, deeming close every other argument. The silence continued for the rest of the trip, until finally Ianto stopped the car in front of a big detached house. The captain took a moment to regard the residence, whose garden was filled with even more toys and attractions for children than the last time he'd seen it. From afar.

"Ever wondered why she moved away?" Jack muttered dryly, not actually expecting an answer.

"I can guess that her house was too filled with memories of her son Steven for her to keep living there. But look, now she has another home, another life." Ianto tried to show him the brighter side, but obviously Jack wasn't in the mood for comfort at the moment.

"And I bet she can't wait for her father to destroy that too."

Ianto leaned in to give Jack a chaste kiss on his cheek, but his boyfriend didn't even stir. "I'll be back soon."

"Just…" Jack said right before Ianto closed the door behind himself, taking some more time to wonder how to phrase his confused thoughts. "Just don't hurt her Ianto. She had enough."

Ianto gave him a small smile and nodded, walking towards the residence. He ringed the doorbell and soon he met with two suspicious green eyes.

"Children care is closed today." Alice snapped at him, frowning deeply.

"Miss Carter? I'd like to give you my sincere apologies and condolences, even though I know that I've let too many years go by before coming here."

Alice was even more suspicious of him now, as she examined attentively the too young man in front of her. The courteous behaviour surely was playing at Ianto's advantage in her eyes, but she was a woman with too much experience of deceiving to be convinced just by that.

"I accept the condolences, but I don't understand the apologies." She said eventually. "What were you back then? Twenty?"

Ianto swallowed and bit his lips. "Twenty six."

Alice's eyes widened as her mind began thinking overly fast at what the man was saying. With a father like hers there was no way she could be fooled easily, and if the man in front of her knew about her Steven and asked for forgiveness there were high chances that he could be involved in something with the Government, or even worse with her father. Anyway, she would not take the risk to accuse an innocent man, so she tried to contain her distrust inside the limits of cordiality as she got more information to understand which party he was in.

"How old are you now?"

Ianto gave her an extremely guilty look "Twenty eight."

"You don't work for the Government do you?" Her voice was something in between wary and reproachful, since the four missing years made the man in front of her even more suspicious.

"I'm from Torchwood." Ianto admitted eventually, knowing too well what Alice needed to know and not willing to stretch things further.

Alice's eyes widened and she literally threw him aside to look at the car parked in front of her house. Barely visible from the distance and through the darkened window panes she could easily make out the sulking figure of her father.

"Can't believe he's got the nerve!" She yelled, clearly seething in anger. Ianto did his best to make Alice focus back on him, searching words good enough to calm her down before she rushed to take out her anger out on Jack. Even though his boyfriend couldn't die, he was certain that getting harmed by his own daughter would make none of them feeling better.

"I put him up to this, he won't come at your door uninvited."

His words only managed to transfer some of her rage back to him.

"Who the hell are you!?"

"I'm… the actual reason behind your son's demise."

Alice snorted in a very unladylike manner, crossing her arms over her chest and eyeing him with mirth.

"The very reason behind my son's butchering is right there, inside that car. So unless you're sorry for having brought him here, I don't see why you're speaking nonsense."

Ianto felt his heart tightening in his chest hearing the woman talk like that bout his Jack, but he really couldn't make himself hate her for this. His own sister would have estranged him the very same way if something had happened to David or Mica that very same infamous day.

"It's not like that… It's not all Jack's fault…"

"Oh, it's Jack for you." Alice noticed, smirking maliciously. "No boss and no sir?"

No one in Torchwood had ever called Jack if not by name except Ianto and only at the beginning, still he guiltily looked down at his feet, wondering how he could bring back the matter to the subject he wanted to discuss. Despite his best efforts, however, something in his ashamed reaction seemed to have given away the actual reason why he had  _stopped_  calling him sir, and now Alice stared at him with her mouth slightly hanging open in shock.

"You're not… You can't be one of his  _playmates_." Her lower lip trembled a little and her eyes became visibly warmer and more horrified at the same time. "You're a kid!"

Despite Alice's intentions, this time Ianto honestly felt offended.

"I'm old enough to play by my own decisions, miss Carter, and I'm actually something more than just a playmate. This is basically the reason why I'm here." Ianto took a deep breath. "You did good trusting your father, but not many hours before your child's death… I'm sorry, I was supposed to be there with him. I'm the one who usually tries to talk Jack out of the extremes, but… they had killed me too the day before. I'm sorry that my death hurt your father so much that he ended up following those fucked up plans that got Steven killed. I left him with no strength or pieces of advice to do otherwise."

Alice stared at him thoughtful, wishing she could find again the same rage she had felt barely a few minutes before. Ianto seemed so honest, hurt and young that she could hardly not be impressed, especially knowing that the man worked for Torchwood and was related to her father. How was she supposed to consider him? A fellow victim of her father's corruption or someone just as dangerous as him?

"What you're saying is wrong in so many ways I can't even begin counting." She told him quietly. "You can't actually be sorry for dying, as much as… Look, it seems already wrong if the boyfriend is fifteen years younger than his partner, but you're fifteen years younger than  _me_."

"There's also something else I should be asking forgiveness for." Ianto said, trying to took advantage of Alice's sobered mood as he tried to not burst out in tears from the mix of nerves and memories. "Two years ago, a friend of Jack's gave him a gift… I'm sorry that the gift ended up reviving me and not Steven."

Alice eyed him clinically, her jaw dropping as she pierced together all the information she had.

"You're like him now, aren't you?" She concluded, wetting her lips thoughtfully.

Ianto simply nodded, not daring to look at her in the eyes.

"Did dad chose to do this to you?" She asked coolly. "Did he know you would end up screwed up just like him?"

Again Ianto felt a stab in his chest at her crude approach, but he did his best to simply shook his head. "He had no saying in the matter. It just happened. His friend only wanted him to actually feel alive again and... Things ended up like this"

Alice nodded, visibly more relaxed by Ianto's words to Ianto's surprise.

"Then it's fine." She said, sighing aloud. Ianto finally looked up at her and found on her lips the ghost of a smile.

"If he had consciously ruined another life like this… Then I would have killed him with my bare hands." She explained completely serious, and then looked behind Ianto to glance at her father's silhouette. "I've got enough of seeing my own flash and blood causing death and destruction around him. I hope he realize we don't need another one like him."

"We do our best to get through the day without casualties, miss Carter. We really  _do_  try, but we're still just humans… that's why sometimes we seem to revert to monsters."

"You're not going to leave him again aren't you?" She asked, earning a warm embarrassed smile from Ianto.

"As long as he would have me. And since he just asked me to become his partner, I guess it's supposed to be a very long time."

Alice's eyes widened again and she automatically looked down, noticing Ianto's ring for the first time. Ianto's first instinct was to hide it, especially considering how the woman had reacted when he had told her he's been in a relationship with her father, but the amused stare she gave him was enough to calm him down.

"You weren't joking, you  _are_  more than a playmate. As weird as it sounds I'm happy my father finally found his meaning in life, this should help making him more human."

"I won't be substituting your mother." Ianto hastened to add uncertain. "He's still hurt by their failed marriage, that's why he chose a partnership and not a proper wedding."

Alice snorted, but kept smiling nonetheless.

"That's semantics, but don't worry I'm way over that. She was the one leaving him after all." Something came to her mind and she laughed at the thought. "Oh, my. I'm surely not about to call dad someone who actually  _is_  fifteen years younger than me. At least my father just  _looks_  younger."

"Does this mean that, if we gave you an invitation to the ceremony, you would actually consider coming?"

Alice stopped laughing, her jaw dropping again as she stared astonished at Ianto. " _You_  want  _me_  at  _your_  wedding?"

"Weddings are about family. The whole family."

"What does dad say?" She asked suspicious.

"He doesn't want to hurt you, that's all I know. We had quite a row about that, actually, while we were coming here."

Alice pressed her lips together and stared at the car thoughtfully.

"Get him 'ere."

Ianto quickly walked back to the car and she stared warily at the two man debating animatedly. When they finally got back to her, she was put off by Jack's subdued attitude. All the hatred she still held for her father couldn't resist in front of the resigned man in front of her… He really seemed a condemned man ready for execution.

"Good morning, sweetheart." The captain tried tentatively.

"Don't sweetheart me, dad. It won't work." She quipped glacially, making both Jack and Ianto shudder.

"I've already told you, there's no way in Heaven and Earth I'll ever manage to forgive you for what you've done to my son." Both men lowered their head, bearing her scold. "And hooking up with a kid his age. Dad, I never thought you would sink so low."

"He's old enough to make his own decisions, Alice." Jack attempted to counter.

"I know, he said so himself." She admitted, glaring at her father. "I will also say that at least you chose him well, he's more mature than the both of us." She added, sounding a little more subdued herself. "That's why I think I can give you another chance to be part of my life, if you want it, but know that's the  _very_  last one."

Jack and Ianto looked suddenly up to her, their eyes widened in surprise.

"I want to try and trust him to keep you well grounded and human, dad. This way, when you will finally be able to forgive mum for what she's done to you, you will finally have a real family for yourself. If he didn't leave you after all this, I doubt he will ever do it in the future."

"And… This is ok with you?" Jack asked surprised.

"Oh, well. Something tells me it's not like to happen while am alive, but anyway I don't think that my 80-something years old self will be unhappy rising a little grandchild, if it will have to come to that. Too bad if it actually is supposed to be my sibling."

She began laughing at her joke and quickly Jack joined. "You won't have to fear that, darling. We've a little too many things to take into consideration at the moment."

"No need to be now, dad, there's time. For you two at least." She stared sadly in her father's eyes, the only part of him that maybe actually looked his age. "I'm happy that you finally found someone that can keep you."

"Thank you, Alice." Jack reciprocated, overwhelmed by the what he felt hearing those long awaited words from his daughter.

"Thank  _you_  for respecting my grief, dad." She said to her father before turning to Ianto. "And thanks to  _you_  too for taking me out of the nastiest part of it." She stifled a laugh, and licked nervously her lips. "I just realized you didn't even tell me your name."

Ianto smiled at her good-naturedly and offered her his hand. "Jones, Ianto Jones."

"A James Bond fan?" She considered, raising an enquiring eyebrow at her father. "You  _are_  full of surprises, for a man this old."

"He tries his best, for a man so young." Jack answered jokingly, turning to smile fondly at his boyfriend. "Thanks for giving me back my daughter, Ianto."

"You only needed a bit of encouragement to make up with her." Ianto answered, blushing furiously. "The rest was already done by you and your ex-wife."

"He has bad sides, has he?" Alice asked unsurely as she frowned at Ianto, earning a heartily smile from her father.

"Oh yeah, many. General rules: never believe a thing he says and try to stay on his good side."

Ianto glared at him, even though Alice actually found the description her father had made rather funny.

They friendly said goodbye to her, with the promise of keeping more in touch this time, despite Alice's reservation on introducing her father to her current boyfriend. After what lies had done to her and her Steven, the fact that she wasn't up to lying again to her loved ones didn't make it any way easier.

On their way home, Jack and Ianto still checked desperately the laptop in the S.U.V. for some rift activity that could keep them busy, but it really seemed to have put its own mind on behaving for the length of Ianto's birthday. So they stopped at a nice restaurant they had noticed on their way to the residential area and made it an afternoon date. After another half an hour spent around shops to buy a nice cake to share with their friends that evening, they had no other choice than returning at the hub.

Ianto had finally made up his mind about beginning the research on a new species they had just captured the day before, even thought he had originally made a point to himself to put it off until after his birthday. Jack, on the other hand, had grudgingly admitted that he could actually find better ways to occupy his time than wasting it, especially considering that the report he had hastily put together for his meeting with the Queen the following month was scarce in any possible meaning.

They entered the hub then, ready to fill the rest of their afternoon with boredom and maybe stealing some bits of the cake before the others came, but what they found in front of them made their jaw simply drop as they eyes fixed on the two translucent white shadows in front of them.

"Bloody hell." Was all Ianto could manage to say as he tried to rationalize what he was seeing.

A well known snort answered him and somehow managed to shook both of them out of their shock.

"You're damn right, tea boy."

**T.B.C.**

 


	6. Drinks and ghosts

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

**Warnings** : No decanter of brandy got drained during the writing of  _this_  chapter. Snippet of  _graphic sex_  at the beginning of the second half.

 

Ianto took tentatively a few steps forwards, reaching out with his hand to try and touch the translucent substance in front of him, but he could grasp nothing. His face fell as he observed the skin of his hand turning ghostly green through the vision, like he had put it behind a nonexistent lime curtain.

"Oh my God… Tosh." He said, staring up sadly at his floating friend.

"Hi, Ianto." She told him with a small smile. "I see you're well."

Hearing after all those years her familiar voice was almost enough to bring tears in his eyes. No one of them had actually believed her final words to be really the last ones when her death had happened, and not even the message she had recorded for them had felt appropriate enough.

Everything had turned to tragedy so quickly and so unexpectedly that it had been hard making a point of their feelings back then. The video she had left for them, however, had shown them that she was as always more conscious than the rest of them that her days were already numbered. She knew she had already crossed her thirties and therefore that any day alive was a gift, considering Torchwood standards.

If they allowed themselves to think about what had happened next, they had to admit that as always she had been the most sensible of them all.

After that horrible day in which they had lost her and Owen forever, they had closed the hub down for maintenance for a couple of days before bearing to go back and start once again from the end. Jack and Ianto had lingered in bed at Ianto's flat, doing nothing more than trying to comfort one another the best way they knew, whilst Gwen had tried to lose herself in the small bits of normality that Rhys offered her so kindly.

If anything, that heartbreak had finally broke down the few reservation Gwen still held on having a proper family with her husband, and the few Jack and Ianto still held over their relationship… But the price had been too heavy on them, especially on Jack.

He was still so much hurt by the events concerning Owen's first death that he had found himself at a complete loss, fighting between the desire to search for a way to bring them back and the fear to make a mess like it had happened the last time he'd tried.

"We missed you." Ianto offered, deciding to tell her what he had never managed to say before, in case all of this was only a passing hallucination. "It was so unfair what had happened..."

"Oh, yeah. Have your romantic moment with Tosh, tea boy." Owen's glowing shadow interrupted abruptly, frowning in disappointment at being completely ignored by his nemesis. "I know you were more than happy to get rid of me once and for all. What's the death of poor Owen?"

Ianto simply frowned back at him, piercing through Owen's translucent face with his glare.

"You were already dead." He stated coolly.

Jack rolled his eyes and glared at both of them, guessing that, if they were back to bite each other off, then things had to be fine and there wasn't any immediate danger. "Do  _not_  start with this again, you two."

"Or what, Captain Jack?" Owen teased him with mirth, an edge of nerves in his voice. "Will you kill me for the third time? Will you spank my untouchable ass?"

Jack stared at him seriously, knowing exactly how to deal with his teammate, especially after his reactions when he first came back to life. "No, I'll call Gwen."

"Oh, please." Owen whined and surrendered at his captain's will as predicted.

"If you two can move" Jack said, gesturing unsurely with a hand at his friends' feet that still weren't touching the ground. "Would you please follow me in my office? I don't think you can, but  _I_  need a drink. And a couple of answers."

As Jack walked up to his office, Ianto literally run after Jack, looking forward to the drink himself, whilst Toshiko and Owen fluctuated obediently in tow, one extremely cheerful and happy to see her friends again, the other sulking and muttering something against Welshman, Welshwoman and Wales as a general topic to blame.

Jack took his position at his desk and poured two half glasses of brandy as Ianto seated himself on the edge of the table next to him, giving his side at the two ' _ghosts_ ', who diligently waited in front of their captain as they were used to do when taking orders or offering suggestions in a normal routine. The couple quickly finished their glasses, but as soon as his was empty Ianto poured himself another full one in front of Jack's measuring stare.

"So… What happened?" Jack asked eventually.

"You mean you have no idea?" Owen teased awkwardly after some seconds of meaningful silence and a quick sincerely surprised glance at Toshiko. "No risen mitten, no big monster trying to escape the rift, no special superpowers?"

"No _old friends_?" Ianto added as an afterthought as he finished his fourth glass of brandy in a row.

"Now stop it!" Jack warned, noticing Ianto's hand reaching over for another refill. The Welshman pouted, but his boyfriend took hastily the decanter from his hands and set him away from his reach.

"I need a drink too!" Ianto protested, his words already a little bit slurred.

"You already had four!" Jack pointed out and took both Ianto's hands in his to cross them over his boyfriend's legs.

"Now you stay here." He demanded as he pointed sternly at him his finger. "And you two please call me if he tries to get another drink. I'll be back in a minute."

Time to make an extra strong black coffee for Ianto and Jack was back, only to find the brandy level inside the decanter particularly low, and Owen shutting up Toshiko with his hand.

"Why would you do that!?" Jack asked shocked as he hastened to his boyfriend to make him drink the coffee by force, something that told him that Ianto certainly had drunk too much alcohol if he was refusing coffee in any form.

Owen let Toshiko go, leaving the ghosted woman free to turn and glare at him. "Owen!"

"I was helping my teammate." Owen drawled, smirking too much widely to even look innocent. "Now you can't say I never was on the tea boy's side."

"To get him drunk!" Jack and Toshiko argued at the same time outraged.

"That was my idea." Ianto pointed out, rising his hand and grimacing at the weird taste of the brandy mixing up with Jack's standard level of coffee. "I told him I would be very ill if he let me drink again."

"You" Jack warned Ianto as the Welshman tried to get more comfortable gravitating towards him. "You will sleep on the couch, if this keeps going."

"But he's back." Ianto said, sighing deeply as he lazily raised his hand in Owen's direction.

"Oh thanks!" Owen retorted offended, but was rewarded only with a sad pout and two too large blue eyes staring at him.

"I cried when you died. Both times." He whined desperately. "And now I'm in for a third. Three times crying for you it's much more you deserve. You're English."

Jack looked at Ianto's distraught expression and tentatively held him, leaving his boyfriend to sob quietly over his chest. He knew that in this case the tears were mainly caused by the alcohol, but it was true that having Owen back was destabilizing. Especially since all of them already understood what meant losing him twice. And now Ianto was immortal just like him, so the eventuality to be Ianto the one dying before Owen wasn't an option anymore.

"Back to you two" Jack said to the others, trying to understand a bit more of the situation. "Why did you though it was us?"

Owen muttered something along the lines of ' _Not like that, uhn?_ ' as he eyed maliciously the captain holding their co-worker, but was promptly kicked by Toshiko. Ianto's alcohol clouded mind still filed aside for late uses the information that at least they were able to touch each other in more than one way.

"We talked while we were waiting for someone to come in, when we found ourselves here" Toshiko answered uncertainly. "And the last thing we seem to remember is Ianto. He wore a different suit, though."

"Oh my, that's great." Jack said, rolling his eyes. "I bet my money on Future Ianto. Even thought the idea of a threesome is more than challenging, that man brings always weird things with him."

"How would you know it was  _him_?" Ianto argued louder than he intended, staring suddenly up at his boyfriend. "It could be hundreds years in my future or thousands years in his past…"

As he tried to mentally recall what he had just said, he sincerely realized he was only confusing himself and the others, so he decided to shut up until his enhanced immortal body would make him sober up at least a little bit.

"I'm Welsh, I used to keep better my drinks." He said slouching over Jack, who supportively patted his back.

"This stuff is strong." Jack explained warmly, leaving a small kiss on his head.

"Do we get an invitation to the wedding?" Owen joked, but his smirk suddenly died on his lips as Ianto regarded him seriously.

"You're a ghost." He said heatedly, and then turned much more concerned to Toshiko. "Would you come?"

Toshiko's eyes widened in surprise, whilst Owen completely missed the point he wanted to make in favour of focusing on the different approach the Welshman had with the two of them. "She's a ghost too!"

"She's a nice ghost!" Ianto retorted, glaring at his archenemy.

"You're getting married!?" Toshiko cried out, stopping the banter as she floated in front of Owen to get near Ianto.

Ianto gave her a small shy smile and laid his head warily on Jack's shoulder.

"We're entering a civil partnership. It's not marriage, but quite close." Jack explained. "We can always evolve it later."

"Would that even be possible in the UK at the moment?" Owen asked, almost sounding concerned as he saw both of them nodding. "How many years are we off?"

"You died way over six years ago."

Both of them stared at Jack with wide eyes as their jaws dropped in disbelief.

"They can't be six" Owen reasoned, his mouth not quite managing to give the amused smirk he was hoping because of his overwhelming surprise. "The tea boy is still… tea  _boyish_!"

"Would you rather having me female?" Ianto complained, raising an eyebrow. Toshiko simply sighed at his out of character choice of words.

"Ianto believe me, you've been too much time with Jack for your own sake" She reprimanded.

Jack rolled his eyes, he himself recognizing that they had better shut Ianto off before he could say things that he would eventually regret. Almost fifteen minutes had passed since his boyfriend had least drunk the brandy and it wasn't really that much alcohol all things considered, so, if his boyfriend's body reacted like his own fighting the alcohol off, there wasn't still much to wait until he would sober up.

"I've got enough with you" Jack said exasperated as Ianto once again grimaced in distress. He took him up bridal style and dumped him not-too-gently on the sofa while he went to damp a towel down in his bunker.

As soon as he got back, he went to sit once again next to him, taking care to lay Ianto's head on his tights and to cover both his eyes and forehead with the cloth.

"Freeze!" He ordered him, as Ianto, who was feeling the water running in his ears, tried to struggle off his hold. As soon as he had put on hold the situation with his boyfriend, Jack turned his attention to his friends. "Alright then. Quick summing up: Ianto is like me now, long story. While he was dead his future self came here and helped us solving some problems  _they_  brought on us, even longer story and unusually I don't know half of it. However, this is one of the reasons why we can genuinely suppose that we're getting some kind of help from them this time too, if you really saw Ianto when coming back. He  _must_  know what's going on and how to get through it, even though he can't come here anymore."

"…I'm sorry to be alive…" Ianto moaned with a deadpan.

Jack glared at his distressed boyfriend even though Ianto could not see him behind the towel.

"I'm not" He complained, his voice low and serious.

"I know" Ianto sighed softly, as he reached for Jack's hand over his forehead. "I love you."

The captain sighed and tightened his grip on Ianto's hand. "I love you too, Ianto, but you're still an idiot."

Owen looked at them and simply snorted, shaking his head.

"You became so cute together!" Toshiko chimed, hiding her wide smile behind her hands and managing to blush a bit even in her ghostly state.

"Long story" Jack said, this time smiling fondly at his distressed lover. "But I'm sure that the others will want the honour to fill you in, at least in the gossip area."

"Unfortunately" Jack continued with a loud sigh "The only brain we've left here at Three has knocked himself out-of-order as you can see, so we can't actually do much until Ianto recovers. I honestly don't know where to begin, and the fact that Gwen and Donna will come in soon won't help much I fear."

"Yeah, where's Gwen?" Owen quipped at the same time as Toshiko asked unsurely: "Who's Donna?"

Jack found himself smiling a little, realizing that Toshiko and Owen had actually never even heard about their not-so-new newbie.

"Donna is one of the Doctor's former companions, just like Martha. We took her in a couple of years ago, right after Ianto came back to us. She's become a good field agent and she's great working the software, but she's no research material despite her good intuitions."

"Wait, you mean there was no one else in the middle?" Owen bulged in, flabbergasted. "You went on with just Gwen after the kid got himself killed?"

Toshiko saw Jack shudder and Ianto grip tighter the hand he still was holding, not even bothering to protest for being called  _kid_  by Owen.

"Long story" The captain said eventually, cutting the short story even shorter, his voice so tiny that they could barely hear him. "Anyway, we tried another new addiction here in Cardiff after having Ianto back… We really needed a new doctor. Still, he stayed with us only a couple of months. After that, we began borrowing Martha for emergencies or we sent her samples for the analysis when we couldn't handle things by ourselves."

"Dying after a couple of months is a miserable record even for Torchwood" Toshiko stated sadly.

"He didn't die. I fired and retconed him, because we discovered that he worked as a double agent for UNIT. We were having a bit of a problem with them at the time. Once again: long story."

"Now that you have thoroughly answered Tosh, how about my question?" Owen quipped irritably, not quite sure about how to handle the situation seeing Jack's mixed reactions on things. "Where the fuck is Gwen?"

"She's home probably. I guess sleeping or dealing with her children, since she did the late night shift with Donna."

The answer made both Toshiko's and Owen's eyes widening open. "Children and shifts!?"

"Yeah, she was already pregnant by the time Ianto… well, had that incident. So when everything was finally back to normal and we had also Donna's addition, we decided to organize shifts for the quieter days of the week and holidays, so that she could have some family time with her daughter."

Toshiko and Owen both noticed the way Jack had promptly bypassed the period of Ianto's death, but they quietly let the other man continue, deeming it safer not asking.

"The new system became even more useful when we accidentally had both Gwen and Donna pregnant at the same time."

"Pregnant at the same time!?" The two ghosts shrieked in various degrees of shock.

"How did you cope with only a field agent and an administrative?" Owen asked, awestruck.

"I've been cleared for field work ages ago." Ianto growled back at him in anger. "You were there!"

"So cleared for field work that you got yourself killed!" Owen retorted, sounding as he was actually reprimanding an unrepentant child.

"Look who's talking!" Ianto countered irately.

"Both of you!" Jack admonished them. "Behave! Ianto should heal soon but is currently out of focus, and we'll keep assuming Owen is still dead until further notice. I'll let you have one of your row when you both will be alive and healthy."

Ianto and Owen simply growled their agreement, eliciting a loud sigh from Jack.

"Ianto, why you're fighting the situation this much? I understand Owen, but you've always been much more reasonable and collected that this, especially after his death."

"Because now we will have to postpone the partnership." Ianto admitted, turning in Jack's lap and successfully setting the towel too much askew to do him any good. "I know it's stupid, but I was looking forward to it."

"We're not delaying the ceremony, Ianto." Jack argued warmly, but Ianto simply looked suspiciously up to him. "C'mon it's in a month! I'm certain we're going to have them back safe and breathing by then."

"How would you know that?" Owen snarled at Jack's assurance.

"Because if I've got even one and only chance to have my whole team back with me, I'm going to move present and future for it." He answered smirking.

Ianto smiled at Jack's resolute stare and sat up, winking at him conspiratorially. "I think I'm up for work, will you do a couple of scans for me?"

Jack grinned back at him seductively, earning an eye roll from his lover for his trouble.

Owen pretended to have seen nothing, whilst Toshiko lowered her head to hide her embarrassment.

"We might be ghosts at the moment, but we can help" She said hopeful. "We can be six or seven years out, but we've always been good improvisers after all."

"Thanks Tosh, I'll gladly accept your offer." Ianto told her, smiling at his blushing friend.

The couple throttled downstairs, happy to finally have some work to do, followed by their two fluctuating co-workers.

When Gwen re-entered the hub hours later, she would be hard pressed to chose what she would name the less weird thing of the two: finding Owen and Toshiko back at the hub, of not walking into one of Jack and Ianto's shenanigans.

 

* * *

 

In the kitchen of the modern style flat, everything was pure disorder and each corner had its own mess in need to be thoroughly cleaned later on. At the moment though, the man who was supposed to turn the dirtied surfaces polished and immaculate again, was perched upon one of the kitchen counters, the thoughts about cleaning forgotten as his boyfriend roughly pumped in and out of him.

"Harder, Jack! Please, harder!" Ianto yelled, as he felt his wrist almost hurting from how much quick and hard he was stroking himself.

Jack looked at his undone lover smugly and slowed down, as he leaned over him enough to lick away some remaining traces of chocolate from Ianto's neck. The Welshman whimpered at the loss of intensity in the friction, but soon moaned in utter delight at the pleasurable feeling of his boyfriend's skillful tongue on his heated skin. His head tried to move on his own accord to give Jack better access to his neck, but it met with the hard white lacquered wood of the kitchen shelf.

The captain grinned at his boyfriend's distress and took a firmer grip on his tights, preventing the one over his shoulder to fall off and keeping the other close to his side. The different angle, made Ianto gasp in surprise as he tried to get a better hold of Jack's arm.

"You like this?" Jack asked, barely managing to utter the words himself because of the exhaustion and the absolute sexiness of his boyfriend's disheveled attire, now that was left undone and with nothing more than his white shirt and the red striped tie to hide his body.

"Yeah" Ianto breathed out, swallowing harder as he felt his whole body reach his limit. "Jack… I-"

Ianto's words fell lost in his cry of pleasure, as his orgasm finally exploded, taking his lover even higher with him. Jack tightened his grip on whatever inch of Ianto's skin he could find, taking even more pleasure from the sight in front of him.

Soon they both ended up boneless and breathless, one slouched over the other. With the last strength he had left, Jack managed to disentangle himself and slide down onto the floor.

"Tell me, why we didn't think about getting a carpet for the kitchen? " Jack asked, widening is eyes at Ianto's figure as he did his best to join him.

"Carpets in the kitchen?" Ianto asked back reproachfully. "Kitchen are supposed to be used to make food and messes."

Ianto looked around himself and giggled. "Well, I guess we did well on the making messes side. I would have never guessed that was the reason why you wanted another cake for ourselves coming back to the flat."

"Oooh, you liked it?" Jack smirked at him with a wide smile that looked every inch like the one of the Cheshire cat. "You thought that my genius would stop at naked hide and seek?"

That earned him a loud heartily laugh from Ianto, who cuddled next to him as he winced at the discomfort coming from his back side. "You know that Donna keeps bothering me to know how we play it even now?"

"Damn Gwen for telling her that..." Jack sniggered. "I'll write them a book."

"We should have stayed with the others at the hub." Ianto took his chance to point out warmly but seriously.

"The analysis you set up won't be ready until tomorrow anyway, and we  _need_  our sleep, you know?"

"We're not exactly sleeping."

"We will be in early tomorrow, Ianto. No need to change our plans for the night, not when it's your birthday."

Ianto checked his watch and grimaced as he read 00:05 AM. "No more. I'm officially 28/32 now."

Jack laughed at his dramatic expression and stole a quick kiss from his pouting lips. "And I officially couldn't care less."

He stood up and offered Ianto his hand to help him stand up. "Now as you pointed out, even if we don't need it as much as when we were mortals, we must sleep nonetheless."

Ianto took Jack's hand and gave him a small smile. "Will they be fine? Gwen and Donna don't have a clear record on them."

"I doubt they will try another alone mission right after the last one. I bet they are all happily chatting about the news happened over the years."

The Welshman's smile was now way more sincere. "You mean their kids and our shenanigans?"

"Well, what better situation than this to talk about us behind our backs?"

Both of them disappeared in their room, hoping they were right about their co-workers.

 

* * *

 

Toshiko had somehow managed to lean on the desk of her workstation, as he felt the weight of Gwen's words get to her more than she had bargained for when she had dared to ask.

"Tosh? Are you alright, sweetheart?" Gwen cooed sitting next to her, her hand lingering over her shoulders as she suddenly remembered that she had no way to comfort her by touch.

"It's ok, Gwen. I only need a moment. It's just…" Toshiko answered as lightly as she could manage, as a loud sigh made way past her lips even though she didn't want to. "Poor Jack…"

Even Owen gave up pretending to be too busy checking the statistics Donna was showing him to fully pay attention to Gwen's tale. He turned to his former co-workers and stared at them for a while, unsure about how to deal with the information. Obviously, in the end he simply followed his first instinct, and let out his frustration against his usual target.

"The tea boy brought this on them." He stated eventually. "He had always tried to throw it at Jack, even after he'd discovered he was immortal. Being Torchwood he knew that he should have been more sensible than try to ground our forever living captain to himself!"

All the girls stared at his hysterics a little sidetracked.

"He only wanted to help" Toshiko said in the end, biting her lips. "They were both sad, alone and hurt... I guess things evolved from there, but he never wanted to willingly ground Jack to himself, not even when he fell in love. He knew it was dangerous… Besides, Jack showed his interest first, it's not Ianto's fault that they both wanted things to grow further."

"Jack showed his interest?" Owen retorted sarcastically. "He showed his interest to everyone of us at least once- no wait, not just to us, but to  _everyone_  from this Earth and all the other planets as well!"

"It was different, Owen, and with time it became even more so." Gwen argued back. "And if  _I_  can say it, you know it's true!"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. You're Ianto's best friend now." Owen teased. "All that talk made you all mushy inside and made you forget how you were after his man? Have you ever told Rhys how you much you liked to chase all Torchwood male staff except, maybe, Ianto? You know, the only thing I do recognize to you is that at least you didn't fall in Jack's trap like our gullible tea boy!"

Donna glanced worried from one teammate to the other as glares and hard words bounced from one side to the other, unsure about how she could join the argument to quieten her team.

"What the hell is wrong between you and Ianto to always bring him up, damn it!" Gwen yelled eventually. "You two never could stand one another, but since you died he's always been nothing but supportive of you!"

"I don't want his support! I only want to be left alone! I died, I became undead, got melted in a nuclear reactor and now I'm a fucking floating ghost! Why should I pity poor Jack and even more pitiful tea boy!?"

" _I_  asked Gwen to tell me about what had happened, Owen, no one asked  _you_  to hear the story!" Toshiko snapped at him acidly.

"Besides when you were fully alive you never got along with one another either, so don't go change the cards on the table and tell me that your anger has something to do with your deaths!" Gwen added in the same tone.

"Yeah, I'll admit it now! It's genetic! It's all because he's bloodily Welsh! Welshmen and Englishman will never coexist together!"

"I'm Welsh too!"

"That's why I shagged you!"

"Owen!"

"SHUT UP, THE THREE OF YOU!" Donna yelled eventually.

All the three former Torchwood members stared at her as silence filled the room again.

"There's no way Owen will ever admit to actually worry for Ianto, for the same reasons he can't stand him." Donna quipped, and turned at the screen of her computer, typing something as she planned her next move and let her words sink in.

When she thought it had been long enough, she looked up at Owen with the corner of her eye and tried to sound as warm as she could.

"Ianto never gives up, even if things are rationally impossible: he always has hope and tries to give that same hope to the others. He's not much different from Gwen, who is caring and always tries to give her compassion to the people around her. Owen, you can somehow stand compassion because in a way it implies that you've suffered a loss, but for you hope is a children's game: that's why you can stand Gwen, but not Ianto. That's why you trust Gwen to come back in one piece, but you know that Ianto will not."

"Who the fuck are you and who do you think you are to speak to me like that!?" Owen yelled at Donna, feeling guilty the very same moment those words left his mouth.

"I'm just a temp." She said coolly, apparently untouched by his harsh words. "A temp who had quite a lot of experience with people  _like you_."

She stood up and stared at him right in the eyes, showing to be completely unmoved by the fact that he was a ghost or that technically he could have been her senior officer.

"I dealt with a space boy with abandonment issues, I bitched with nannies, Romans and wasp-priests, I freed an entire species that now sings songs about me for it, kicked a genius-kid butt, ended a war, restored the future and I also had to help picking up from the ground your whining captain each time his  _tea boy_  moved more than three inches from him, because for the longest time he couldn't even stand not having him right in front of his eyes! So don't you ever  _dare_  talking that way to me again, scrawny ass!"

Everyone's eyes and especially Owen's widened as they gaped at Donna's stoical upheaval.

"I-I'm sorry." Owen murmured, admitting unwillingly his defeat.

"I'm not the only one you should be apologizing to!" Donna retorted, nodding in the direction of the other two girls.

"Oh, c'mon!" Owen protested astonished.

"Don't  _Oh, c'mon_  me, half-assed physician! Or I'll kick your skinny butt once and for all as soon you have one!"

"Ok! Ok!" He cried out, raising his hands in defeat. "Sorry, Tosh. Sorry, Gwen. I was shouting at you because it is the only thing I can do to cope with my undead feelings."

Then he turned to Donna, glaring at her. "Is that enough?"

"I'll let you go with just that this time." She quipped, and then sat again at her station, resuming her work with Owen dutifully checking and directing her.

After some time, Toshiko finally shook herself out of the shock of finally seeing Owen apologize and joined Gwen in examining again the electronic archives.

"Are all the Doctor's companions like Martha and Donna?"

Gwen snorted. "Looking at Jack, I would think not everyone."

Toshiko smiled a bit at Gwen's words, admitting that their captain was more on the funny side than on the cool and strong one. "They are alright now, are they? Ianto always worried me, you know… Donna was quite right about him."

Gwen gave her a small smile and a nod.

"Yeah. Now they are definitely fine." Then her smile became even wider, shoving clearly the gap between her teeth. "And you will see, we're going to have a blast at their stag party! I bet they are going to have male strippers too, if I know Jack well enough!"

"I don't think a stag party would be appropriate for a ghost." Toshiko pointed out gently, but a bit somberly. "But I'll be happy to know all the details when you'll come back from it."

"We'll have you both sorted out before that, don't worry." Gwen smiled at her good-naturedly. "And Jack is right, if there's a chance that their future-selves are really involved, I'm sure they will find a way to help us."

"We shouldn't be hoping to get help from them though." Toshiko reprimanded her. "We should go on without expecting others to do our work for us... What if nothing comes?"

"Don't worry, Tosh. We will work hard on this, no need to be worried about that." Gwen cheered her up. "We had help in the past though, it's not bad expecting to get it this time as well."

Somehow Gwen deep inside herself knew that, if the matter was actually so complicated as she feared it to be, they would need all the help they could get.

**T.B.C**

 


	7. Forgotten things

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

**Warnings** : Time overlaps. Naked hide and seek (nothing graphic, sorry)

 

**25th century**

 

Jack woke up in a bed that was too much uncomfortable to be his own and with pain troubling him everywhere, no matter which muscle he tried to move. As he agonizingly managed to turn his head to the side though, he saw something that brought a smile back to his lips.

His fiancé was sitting next to his hospital bed, all smiling intently at who he could only suppose to be their newborn daughter, whilst their eldest son had fallen asleep right next to him, clutching tight his hand.

"I thought you were supposed to work while I was sleeping" Jack said with a quite groggy voice.

Ianto looked at him guiltily, but the little bit of embarrassment couldn't manage to clear away the happy grin he had plastered all over his face.

"I know, I'm sorry."

"She must be really beautiful if you forego your duties to fuss over her." Jack teased, making Ianto scoff at him.

"I didn't forego my duties and I'm not fussing over her" Ianto pointed out, looking back at his daughter to clean the corner of her mouth with a small linen cloth. "I just guessed that my job could wait until you woke up and saw your handiwork."

Ianto moved Alice so that he could hold her with an arm, and then with his free one he managed, thanks to Jack's help, to get Steven. After few seconds of pure dread, the two fathers managed to exchange offspring successfully, and finally the captain could admire his newborn daughter for the first time without waking up her older sibling.

"So? Was it a good idea to stay with her or it would have been better leaving the little angel to one of the staff?" Ianto questioned, as he reassured himself that the young boy in his arms was still deeply asleep.

Jack stifled a laugh as he looked amazed at his baby girl. "You had a wonderful idea, Ianto. As you always do"

"Steven was really worried seeing you sleeping you know?" Ianto said gravely. "He thought you were dead again"

Jack took his eyes away from Alice long enough to give a guilty look at Ianto. "I should have kept myself alive more often, at least around him, am I wrong?"

"It's fine." Ianto said, more out of duty and habit than because he was actually meaning it this time. "I managed to explain him the difference when he stopped crying, but he still didn't want to leave your side."

He left a kiss on the top of Steven hair and shifted him a little against his chest to make him more comfortable, whilst Jack gave them a small smile and then went back cooing over the new addition to their family.

"Any idea on what we did in the past with Tosh and Owen?" The captain said after a while.

"Nope" Ianto had to admit, surprised by the sudden question. "I hoped you might remember something actually"

Jack laughed, earning a suspicious frown from the daughter he was cuddling. "Ianto please, I'm so confused and tired that I hardly remember what I had for breakfast. Besides, I'm not the one with the comprehensive knowledge of everything"

"I'll admit that immortality might be a little hard to take for a human mind, no matter how much knowledgeable."

"Oh, yeah. I'll remember that next time you reprimand me for not telling you something. I'm over two thousand years your senior in this"

Ianto stifled a laugh himself, and stood up to sit right next to his fiancé on the hospital bed. He made himself comfortable against him and rested his head on his shoulder, taking good care to not wake up Steven, still asleep in his arms.

"You seem very taken by our children for someone who didn't want any."

Jack gave him a small smile, leaving a small kiss on his forehead as Ianto shifted again and embraced his shoulder with his arm, making him rest his head on his shoulder this time. Jack nestled closer to him and tightened his grip on the little lady that was tentatively reaching out for him. He offered her his finger and, as soon as she had grasped it tight in her tiny hands, she suddenly smiled brightly, deeply satisfied.

"I end up adoring my children too much, that's why I decided to not have any anymore and in any way. My life isn't easy and I know what means losing a child or a grandchild… If I had to chose whether let someone suffer that much or endure it myself, you already know what I would do… What I did…"

Ianto tightened his hold on his fiancé and looked at him sadly. "You're a good man, Jack"

Jack simply had to smirk at that. "Yeah, a good man who will consciously chose to kill his own blood. If I were you I would take the kids and hide away to be sure I won't kill them too. Look what happened to both of them, and they weren't even born!"

"I have nothing to fear, because I'm with you. I won't give up on you, and together we will find alternatives that will keep our kids alive and healthy until it's their time. Besides, you chose to use your Steven to not make others suffer and because there was no time and no other solutions" Ianto pointed out. "But you don't have to worry about this anymore: it will never happen again. I  _won't_  let it happen again"

"You heard the Doctor. In the end I will lose you too… And I'll lose these little angels even sooner"

"Yeah, but all the three of us will have grey hair and a lot of wrinkles on our faces by then." Ianto teased, trying to make Jack smile again. "Until that day… Enjoy what we have now? They will be a good company for each other, no matter how long their lives will turn out to be. We'll just have to make sure it would be as long as they can get it, protecting them like we've been protecting Earth until now"

Jack found himself smiling against his will and looked up adoringly at his fiancé as he leaned in for a brief kiss. "I love you, Ianto"

"I love you too, Jack" Ianto smirked pleased and kissed him again. "And don't worry. You're always taking care of me, but I can manage taking care of you if you want me to. Not only you, but all our crew as well"

"If I can't manage all of it by myself neither can you Jones, Ianto Jones." Ianto snorted at that, but Jack only snuggled closer to him. "I could do nothing without you by my side, so let me be at yours. Besides, whenever you yell at me you're usually right, so let me do the same for you when it's necessary"

"Always" Ianto said, smiling widely at him.

"Now" Jack said in between a couple of yawns. "What are we going to do about the past?"

"I remember we almost did everything by ourselves… But we surely had help in the end"

"Why don't you try to reply the experiment? This way you can see what would be missing"

Ianto nodded and left absentmindedly a kiss on the top of his lover's hair. "I guess it's the only solution"

Jack yawned again, so Ianto disentangled from his lover to leave him enough room to slouch down under the blankets, smiling at the sight as he noticed how Alice had fallen asleep as well. As both of them were already positioned to sleep, Ianto left Steven tucked in next to Jack, and walked to the other side of the bed to take the little girl from her father's arms and deposit her in the small cradle they had set for her.

"If I sleep some more, I'll heal quicker" Jack told Ianto, tightening his hold around his son. "Don't worry about the kids for now, I'll have everything contained"

The captain smirked at him and Ianto returned his smile, bending enough to kiss him again and ruffle his hair.

"I'll come and check everything anyway in a couple of hours"

By the time Ianto exited the room, Jack was fast asleep, clutching protectively his arm around Steven. The Welshman took a few seconds to stare at his family and then decided he could actually go back to work.

Yes, knowing what had been happening now, he could certainly forgive himself for the little delay with the whole Owen-Tosh accident.

 

**Present: 21st century**

 

After more than a week of hard work for all of them, the Torchwood team finally felt vaguely near to understand what the problem had been even though the wonders of what to do with the information they held still felt way out of their reach.

In the end, Ianto had to agree with Jack about taking that first night to themselves, because between work and getting everything ready for their partnership ceremony, they had ended up exhausted on the hub sofa more often than not. To make the matters worse, UNIT had somehow felt that something was off within Torchwood -or simply decided to be asses on their own accord knowing about Jack and Ianto's imminent partnership- and had decided to give them an hard time. After three days full of false cases and throwing them off tracks about the ones they were already following, the captain had left everything in Donna's hands.

They had no further problems since, but how she'd done it was a mystery that only Owen knew.

The rift gave barely few sparks, but somehow they had managed to contain the situation always leaving at least two or more of them at the hub in order to keep analysis and tests going. As Monday came to its end, they all reunited inside the board room to discuss the development of the situation.

"Gwen, have you contained the alien we found in Trafalgar Square?" Jack asked tiredly.

Gwen's head tilted a few times forward, until she finally woke up with a start. "What?"

Jack hid his face behind his hands, fighting exhaustion himself. "That unknown thing with too many wings and four horns that rushed through London this morning."

"Oh, yeah." She said, marginally sounding more like she was awake. "In the vaults. It's fine. I checked on it with Owen. He and Ianto managed to understand what that could be enough to don't feed it with anything that would kill it until we solve the most urgent matters at hand."

The two most urgent matters at hand sighed heavily as they fluctuated over the seats right next to Gwen and Donna at the opposite sides of the conference table.

"We're sorry about this" Toshiko said softly, earning a glare from Owen.

"Speak for yourself, I'm not sorry to have a chance to come back to life if this means I will still be a  _normal_  human being again"

Owen's comment earned risen eyebrows from all of his colleagues, who kept to silently stare at him until he huffed in defeat and crossed his arms on his chest.

"Does the results give us any hope that this could be the case?" Jack took his chance to ask to the whole class.

"From what we could gather" Ianto explained, taking some sheets from the folder in front of him. "They are basically the projection of who we knew as Tosh and Owen, made visible thanks to some void particles that stayed attached to their being during the time they were dead and trapped inside the void."

"Proof is that the results we had from the scans, analysis and any different kind of test we conducted match Torchwood One results on the void sphere" Ianto continued, taking a pause to enhance the drama before the last sentence. "Meaning: we keep getting nothing."

"Ianto, wasn't this something we were fearing? I see you fairly unconcerned…" Jack noticed, eyeing suspiciously his boyfriend. "Or does this just mean you're tired?"

Ianto smirked at him, but let Toshiko do the honours of the explanation with a courteous wave of his hand.

"Some of the scans put on evidence that we seem to be connected to something, like we are residual images of something _far away_  more than  _already dead_   _existences_." She explained in what she hoped was a comprehensible way. "And this something  _has_  to be somewhere. Theoretically, if we could find where the bodies are and manage to put together the two halves of flesh and spirit, the best odds are that we'll get another chance at life."

"So it's like some sort of double temporal displacement that put who you are here with us, and the body you should be inhabiting somewhere else" Jack considered, putting a finger on his lower lip as he thought about the implication of the discovery. "Still it doesn't explain how you managed to get a body. When we checked afterwards… well, let's just say nothing was left."

"It wouldn't be possible a connection with the past ones." Owen butted in Jack's argumentation. "The image you're seeing, if Ianto and Tosh's assumptions are correct, should be exactly how our linked bodies appear. And there's no bullet hole in my chest as far as I can see."

"But you're still not losing weight either, how can this be possible if the bodies are alive?" Jack argued back.

"We think this might be easily explainable if we take for granted one of the latest assumption in astronomy." Toshiko explained quietly. "According to Ianto it is believed that some parts of the space-temporal fabric are ageless. Adding this to what we know from the different kind of tech we get through the rift, well it's not impossible for someone to have the technology to reply it."

"You mean there are big special refrigerator in space?" Donna asked amused, whist Owen simply grumbled at Toshiko.

"You could stop saying we, Tosh." He growled. "Sometimes you could actually take the honours for your discovers or proposals"

"I'm not using pluralia majestatis Owen." Toshiko retorted deeply annoyed. "Ianto and I have worked together on this as much as you were sorting out the data we collected from the tests with Donna."

"Oh, the tea boy helped? Really?" Owen teased her, but also keeping to stare with the corner of his eye to Ianto. "Did he  _murdered_  a coffee to give you a double strength  _ghost_  one?"

Ianto glared at him, but Jack grasped quickly his hand hoping to calm him down.

"Owen, Ianto is doing his best to help you. We wouldn't be able to understand half of the Torchwood One encoded reports without him, not to mention that we're only half way through the typescript folders and we only have him and Donna to work our way through that hieroglyphs ensemble."

Both Ianto and Donna laughed at that, but Owen still didn't sound convinced.

"So the tea boy is up to promotion to become the perfect secretary?"

"You want to say something against secretaries?" Donna glared at him.

"What is this now? Secretaries United?" Owen retorted exasperated.

"I'm not a fucking secretary!" Ianto hissed, slamming his hands over the table as he stood up.

"We've been working at this too long" Gwen cut in, shouting dangerously enough to be quickly obeyed by everyone.

Jack sent her a grateful look and then turned to the others.

"I would say we're most certainly done for today. I'm calling in Rhys and Shaun to help Tosh and Owen with their basic needs, and then we all clear for the night." He turned to his ghostly friends and gave them a stern look. "Chill out. No work for tonight. Even though you can't physically sleep you  _need_  to let the mind wander a bit."

"Wouldn't we be losing precious time?" Toshiko pointed out worriedly.

"Don't worry, we wouldn't have anything productive done here. Ianto and I we'll be back early tomorrow morning since we need less sleep, Gwen and Donna can come in a little later."

Owen growled, but said nothing as Jack made the calls and ushered everyone out of the hub including himself. When they were finally alone and waiting for the part-timers to come, finally he let all his frustrations out.

"Of course for his great perfection Captain Jack Fucking Harkness is perfectly fine to take a break, so he can finally shag the tea boy! I bet he would have stayed behind to work if  _he_  had been the ghosted one!"

"Don't be stupid Owen" Toshiko retorted, fluctuating gently towards the center of the hub. "Ianto and Jack barely left the hub this week, you can't accuse them of negligence! I guess they must have felt the  _need_  to go back home to have a shower and properly relax themselves, they were getting hysterical just like the rest of us."

"He never needed that shit!"

"He never could have it!"

Toshiko's last words left Owen speechless.

"Over six years dead, uh?" He muttered in defeat. "Things really changed"

"Ianto said it had been really difficult for him adapt to all the changes around the people he knew and he had been only dead for four years." Toshiko offered kindly. "Still, he also said that everyone helped him with this, therefore he would be the first to do the same for us. Both of us."

Guilt crept on the surface of Owen's hard expression, but he tried to hide it under a grimace.

"He was only being polite including me."

"Ianto is never-" Toshiko stopped herself before saying something nice but completely untrue, since Owen was right and Ianto could be polite just because he had to be. However, no matter what, she  _knew_  that  _this_  time the offer had been sincere, as much as she was sure that the fact that Gwen and Ianto were now  _sincerely_  friends with one another wasn't only Gwen's imagination working too much. "I'm sure he means it, this time."

Owen scoffed and Toshiko glared at him, crossing her arms on her chest to resist the urge to smack him across his pale translucent face. "Donna was right, was she? You can't keep refusing people's feelings just because you think you don't want them, Owen, and I'm not just thinking about Ianto's"

"Are you going to scold me now, Tosh?" He challenged.

"I'm just trying to be a friend, if nothing else. You've been burned in more way than one could stand by the people around you, but doing your best to prevent people to care is not going to work in the long run"

"You know what I hate about you lot? That no matter how many times I die or what happens to me, everyone always demand that I fucking behave, care or move on!"

"You already got over most of the things that hurt you and now  _we_  share the same future!" Toshiko yelled at him, despite her attempts to keep herself calm and relaxed. "Do you think I like staying here and just do nothing!? But I  _can't_  do a single thing on my own  _like this_! Don't you think that this is getting on my nerves too?!"

"That's why Jack is right" She continued in a more subdued tone. "We are so stressed we can't bring ourselves to think straight… and we don't even feel the physical exhaustion they are subjected to! That's why I think he simply  _needed_  to go home. It's a physical need, Owen, once you have given into it you will get more energy for the work. I would do that too, if I could"

They stared at each other in silence for a while, before Toshiko reached for Owen's arm in a tentative friendly hold. "The fact that we feel physically bothered is good though, isn't it? At least we have a body that gets frustrated somewhere."

Owen smiled warily at her and nodded. "Thanks for the perspective Tosh."

"You are welcome. You're not alone in this Owen, and even if I were one of the ones alive, you wouldn't have been alone anyway. Trust me on this." She gave him a small smile and looked at him in the eyes, with what could be taken as a light blush on her pearly cheeks. "I might not be overly caring like Gwen or heroically hopeful like Ianto, but if there's a single thing I can give my word on is that I'll be always there for you"

Owen automatically swallowed, fighting within himself to find the proper words for thanking her properly. Unfortunately, the proximity alarms chose that moment to shriek, interrupting their moment and warning them of Rhys and Shaun's presence inside the hub.

Just like many other things, that had to be left for later to be dealt with too .

 

* * *

 

Jack entered the flat they had originally bought for Ianto and automatically felt at home, as if all the tension had left his shoulders. He had barely moved to take his coat off that his boyfriend's hands were promptly gripping tight its edges to do the work for him.

He turned just in time to see him quietly hanging it, before Ianto proceeded to remove his own. As soon as he was finished, Jack turned Ianto towards him and took his chin with his hand to bring their lips together in a short sweet kiss.

"You're up for a bath?"

Ianto smirked doubtfully at him. "With you inside with me, the bath would hardly be the only thing I would be up to."

"Wouldn't mind, you know?" Jack said with a wink, but Ianto's mood had already visibly sobered up.

"We should be focused on helping them"

Jack sighed and went inside the bathroom to switch the hot water open.

"I'll cut you a deal." Jack announced as he went back to the airy living room. "You help me relax and then we won't come back here for another week unless we found a solution for Owen and Tosh's problem."

Ianto frowned at him. "That's not what I meant. You know I like coming back home too, especially with you."

The captain smirked maliciously at him. "Oh, yeah. You showed me that much way before we even got together, you little sex-maniac."

Ianto blushed and rolled his eyes, as Jack stifled a laugh and took a firm grip of the collar of Ianto's suit jacket, trying to undress him. He had almost managed to get it through his arms, when his boyfriend bent down to pass under his arm and swiftly free himself from it.

Jack turned to put the jacket on the nearby table, but when he searched for his lover behind himself he found no one. He moved to the bathroom, guessing that his boyfriend had already gone ahead of him, but he found the room empty. He frowned and turned to go and search for Ianto in the other rooms of the flat, when he noticed Ianto's waistcoat laying discarded on the floor. Jack picked it up and stared at it, smirking knowingly as he understood what was going on.

Once he was back in the living room, he left the new piece of clothing over the jacket and made it towards the guestroom, the nearest room to the bathroom. The waistcoat had clearly been thrown there as Ianto had supposedly rushed to his original destination to off track him and leave him a hint of the game. Therefore, Ianto  _had_  to be nearby.

The guest room was empty though, but as he approached the bed to look underneath it, he found Ianto's shirt draped over it. As predicted, he found nothing under the bed, but as he huffed in disappointment he clearly heard the door of their bedroom shutting close.

Now he only had to deliberate if Ianto was hiding inside it or if he was escaping from it. He reasonably thought that he didn't have much other choice than having a look inside, so he took Ianto's shirt with him and left to check their bedroom. As soon as he got inside, he found only a pair of trousers draped on the bed the same way as the shirt had been.

Once he had checked also under the bed, he went to the private bathroom connected with their bedroom, but he found that empty too. He wondered if Ianto had even thought about the chance to hide inside, but he found himself snorting as he noticed a pair of white socks there for him to see.

He heard another light sound in the background and this time he could only hope it was unintentional, as he rushed back to the living room before his lover could fool him again. He looked around and, seeing no one, he went straight to the kitchen, already fearing that Ianto wouldn't be there.

As he expected, he didn't find his boyfriend there, but only his tie. As he tried to focus on where the heck had his lover gone instead of how much unclothed the Welshman was at the moment, he realized something. The sound he had heard before… weren't those chairs?

He rushed back to the living room and found Ianto escaping from beneath the table where he had been hidden.

"Here I found you, you Welsh devil!"

Ianto smirked at him and tried to run for the bathroom, but Jack quickly reached for him and trapped him with his arms around his waist. He made him kneel down on the floor as his hand already roamed free and appreciatively over his chest.

"Let me go!" Ianto cried out in a pearl of laughter, trying to get himself free.

"You have nerve saying that I cheat at naked hide and seek! You're way worse than me."

Ianto bend down even more, trying to disentangle himself from his boyfriend, but between laughing and the sensual stroking on his naked skin, he couldn't manage much. Jack took advantage of that, and after a bit of scrambling he managed to pick him up bridal style and lead him to the bathroom, where the bath was almost completely filled.

Jack smirked at him, and Ianto had just the time to widen his eyes as realization dawned on him. Without any other warning the captain let him fall in the hot tube, ending up splashed with warm water himself in the process.

Ianto emerged soon enough to breathe, all the while fighting off tears as he kept laughing. Jack free quickly himself of his wet garments and joined Ianto inside, as his boyfriend threw his now soaking wet underwear over Jack's pile of clothes.

"You think you're relaxed enough now?"

"Oh, yeah, but I could be more…" Jack teased him, as he left a soft trail of kisses along his collarbone.

Ianto hummed in pleasure and took a deep breath as he tried to reach for Jack's hip. "You were right… I needed to come back home for a little while too."

Jack smirked against Ianto's skin, but didn't stop his ministrations. "You see? Always follow the captain. Besides, you also needed to get away from Owen, you were driving each other insane."

The medic's name made a light scowl appear on Ianto's face. "Yeah, I'm in the hub all day and he only sees me when I bring food, coffee or when I ask him the paperwork."

Jack stifled a laugh at Ianto's displeasure. "Usually he went back home or we left for work, but being him the subject this time, you've been too much exposed to one another. The greatest strength of a leader is to know how to divide and conquer."

"I don't think that's the meaning of the quote"

"Why not? I need to divide you two to conquer a little bit of peace. It seems fair to me."

Ianto moved to hover over Jack, making him open his legs further to accommodate him. "What about I show you another meaning of divide and conquer?"

Even though the water was warm, Jack felt cold shivers down his spine staring at Ianto's predator's expression. He didn't know how he ended up turning from hunter to prey this easily, but he certainly liked it.

He spread his legs even wider and rested his right elbow on his knee, staring provocatively at Ianto, who was currently eating him alive with his eyes.

"Then come and conquer… Or better, conquer and come." He said, wiggling his eyebrow seductively.

Ianto could do nothing but oblige.

**T.B.C.**

 


	8. One hub fits all

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

 

As the fragrant aroma of coffee and croissant filled her nostrils, Donna debated if she actually felt like waking up or not. As long as she was asleep, she knew she could rest with no one disturbing her: no kids, no husband, no house-holding, no work. However, the most certainly homemade breakfast had lots of attractiveness to her empty stomach.

In the end, she decided to open one eye to suspiciously check her surroundings. Shaun, however, got her in record time and smiled at her adoringly.

"You slept well, honey?"

"Shaun?" She asked sleepily. "I thought you were on the night shift, what are you doing home?"

"Night shift finished at six thirty this morning" Shaun explained, caressing gently her hair away from her face. "Jack and Ianto were there to take up after us"

"Six thirty!" She exclaimed, sitting up completely awake. "Those damn immortal bastards"

Shaun laughed, partly at her words and partly at her disheveled attire.

"Don't worry, you can still sleep some more after breakfast. It's only 9 AM"

"It's already 9 AM, you mean." She argued anxiously.

"Don't worry, everything is settled in order both here and at the hub. Jack and Ianto said they had everything checked, most of the house work here is done and Angie is in her room playing, neatly dressed and well fed"

"Oh, dear…" She cooed at him, sincerely impressed. "You didn't have to do all that"

"Don't worry, what am I part-timing at Torchwood for if not to assist my wife in what she feels important?" Shaun told her with a smile, nestling himself comfortably at her side.

"More than part-timer I would say emergency resource" Donna admitted guiltily.

"Speaking of emergency resources, Rhys and I took the afternoon off from our jobs." Shaun announced. "We'll come back with you girls this afternoon. I already called Rhiannon about leaving the kids with her for today. We can count on her for the rest of the week too, but in case you need us for a longer period of time we can look for an actual children care. There's one in the Cardiff's outskirts that comes highly recommended"

"Did Jack ask you to do this?" Donna questioned him, surprised and a bit unsettled by the news.

"No, but we thought this was the right time for us to use up the amount of hours Torchwood pays us for" Shaun said with a big grin plastered on his face.

He and Rhys did not receive the monstrous amount of money their wives and the other official Torchwood staff earned, but they still got a  _small_  sum of money every months to be on call as soon as the need for assistance arose. It was not unusual, for them, to receive their pay even though they barely helped out once or twice a month, and this was becoming with the passing of time something that actually made them feel charity chases on the expenses of their wives, this despite their other part-time jobs.

With the kind of work the girls did and with the children still extremely young, they never actually felt like searching a full time job. Shaun had given up his own when he transferred in Cardiff when Donna took the job at Torchwood, and despite what he had initially thought he never ended up with too much free time thanks to the eerie mix of his job, alien emergencies and the little Angie. However, since Torchwood was actually paying both of them with good money, he and Rhys were going to give their wives their help fully when needed, and they both had to agree that this was certainly the case.

"Look, it's not like I don't appreciate it, but… Well it's not like we have a time limit or something, there's no need for you guys to get involved. Again"

"A time limit you know about" Shaun pointed out, smiling at her warmly. "And technicalities aside, you  _do_  have one. I'm guessing the boys would like their friends to be there for their partnership ceremony"

Donna's eyes widened in worry. "You think they might have to-"

"We wouldn't want to risk that, won't we darling?" He explained, kissing the tip of her nose. "That's why we want to join, the sooner we solve this ghost problem the better. Oh, speaking about the boys' partnership, I called in your mum and granddad too. This way we won't bother Rhiannon too much if we can't solve this mess soon enough and we end up having the stag party at the hub. Children cares are not open for the night and I'm sure Rhia will want to go too"

"You do really think that the hub is big enough for all of the people they want to invite plus the machinery we'll have to build and the ones we have already there?" Donna asked doubtfully.

Shaun laughed heartily at her protest, absolutely not bothered by the prospect.

"I trust your Ianto to find a way to do it. Anyway, if Martha manages to get the Doctor as she promised to Jack, we might as well ask  _him_  to do some tricks or help us with his T.A.R.D.I.S."

Donna's smile faltered and she nervously reached for her breakfast, hoping that complimenting Shaun for his pastries and his nice thought would be enough to change the topic. Unfortunately, her husband noticed almost immediately the awkwardness of her behaviour, especially since she was trying to make eating the pastry last longer on purpose, giving the croissant small tiny bites, even though Donna usually finished it in three seconds sharp.

"What's up, sweetie? I thought you would be excited to see your friend again"

"I am" She said a little bit upset, giving up any pretence to buy herself some time or changing the topic. "But Jack said he has changed, and from the looks of it for quite some time… Why did he never come and see us?"

"If I remember well, Jack also said that he felt guilty. After all, he had to take away your most cherished memories. Moreover, going around saving the universe can make you quite busy"

"Yeah" Donna nodded sadly, putting her croissant back on the plate. "But Jack said that he now is a completely different person. Will he be good? Bad? Will he be happy to see me again? I don't even know if he already knows that I got most of those memories back, or that I eventually joined Torchwood... What if he had forgotten about me completely since I was forced to forget everything about him?"

Shaun felt a small fit of jealousy seeing the way his wife was fretting about someone he had always said was only a friend. He knew that both Jack and Martha had had feelings in the past for this supposed heroic alien, and that it had been hard on them to get over it, before they could be able to happily enjoy their lovers and families. Donna, however, had always said she had never been interested… Could he really believe her?

She had left London without much hassle and she'd never said that she was missing the friends she had left there, since for her calling them once in a while was enough. Was the Doctor more than a friend to Donna, or he simply was the only  _real_  friend that she would cherish and miss the most? What kind of man was this infamous Doctor to charm everyone the way he did?

He put his thoughts aside as he put his arm around her shoulders, trying to bring her comfort despite his own fears and doubts.

"Don't think like that. Martha is in the same boat, isn't she? And Jack had the chance to see him again only because of what had happened with Ianto, otherwise he would be in your same predicament too. It's not like he is making preferences among the three of you. I bet he's missing you guys, but maybe he doesn't know how he can come back in your lives after all this time or what he thinks he has done to you"

Donna gave him a bright smile. "You're right, I'm only confusing myself thinking too much. We will know only after we ask him, won't we?"

She took the croissant back in her hand, finishing it quickly along with her coffee, and then put everything on her bedside table. She kissed Shaun deeply, leaving their lips locked more than she felt proper for just thanking him for the meal, considering all the things she still had to do, and then rushed out of the bed.

"Time to do something productive now! I'd say a bit of family time first, then some well earned married time and, after that, we head straight to work!"

She took his hand and rushed energetically towards the door to go and check on their daughter, like most of her worries had disappeared just talking with her husband.

"C'mon! Lots of things to do today!"

Shaun simply smiled at her happily, letting her lead him wherever she wanted. That's was the reason he had married her anyway.

 

* * *

 

"Yes, Rhi…" Ianto repeated for the eleventh time to his mobile. "Ye-yes, Rhi… Don't worry, Rhia I'll- yes, I know. Yeah, I guessed as much. Bye- Yes, Rhi. No, Rhia I'm not hiding something, I'm honest. Yeah, I know my honest doesn't go as far as I think and that you know it. Bye Rhi, I'll call you soon"

Gwen, Donna, Rhys and Shaun, who had just entered the tourist office chatting merrily together, stared at Ianto's pained expression as he agonizingly finished his phone call and turned to glare at them.

"Next time you have the brilliant idea to use my sister as a babysitter for  _all_  of your kids  _at the same time_ , could you please tell  _me_  first? Now she believes I'm making you do really dangerous missions, and being me immortal she said that, if those kids lost even one parent, she would know the joy of killing her own brother with her bare hands"

The quartet made their best to not simply laugh out loud in his face, but Jack, who was hiding behind the beaded curtains of the tourist office archive, didn't have the same grace and burst out in pearls of laughter. Ianto eyed him sternly, but Jack ignored his warnings and instead gave him a quick kiss on the temple.

"When you're done sulking we need your help downstairs." The captain said nonchalantly and then turned at the others. "You four hurry downstairs too, we have news."

"News?" Gwen asked curious, as they all trotted behind Jack inside the hub.

"Yep, we've been quite productive before my sister decided we were going to send the whole team to their premature death as a partnership self-gift"

"Well, that wouldn't really be your fault, wouldn't it?" Gwen pointed out. "Jack is the boss, not you"

What Gwen had said to lighten up Ianto's mood actually managed only to bring a frown on his face, despite the fact that she had sincerely only stated the truth.

"Well, yeah… But, you know, being his boyfriend and fellow immortal I guess it makes me responsible as much as him."

Gwen mentally smacked herself as she perceived the slight edge hidden behind the calm and civil words.

"I've done it again, haven't I?" She asked him in a really sorrowful tone, as she slowed down and turned to face him.

Ianto simply gave her a small smile. "What you said is true enough. If something were to happen to you the only one officially responsible for it would be Jack."

"And that's fine" Jack interrupted them before the quarrel could go on. "I was new being a boss as much as  _you guys_  were new at being Torchwood Three officers, that's why I always felt safe asking you guys for suggestions, but someone  _has_  to make the final calls when needed and there's no way I'm giving that up to  _any_  one of you. It's not a nice work and I don't want you kids to get more tainted than you are."

"Still Ianto helps you a lot when it's time to make decisions." Gwen admitted sheepishly. "I shouldn't have said that"

"You help giving your point of view too, Gwen, and nothing ever stopped me listening also to Tosh, Owen or Donna when they had good ideas. I like being in a friendly group more than being the head of a hierarchical organisation. That said, well, Ianto was a researcher for Torchwood One, that's why he ends up with the most proper suggestions and I feel safer asking him. In a way, you can say he has even more experience than me in the stuff they had properly trained him for"

"Yep, secretary work." Ianto deadpanned as he saw Owen fluctuating towards them once they finally reached the main hub and eventually he earned Jack's elbow hitting his ribs for his trouble.

"The data we have are not enough, we miss certain parameters for the triangulation." The medic stated, eyeing Ianto even more suspiciously when he saw the Welshman smiling over politely at him.

"Ok, let's all meet in my office for a moment." Jack said, leading the group straight upstairs where Tosh was attentively studying some papers that had been scattered around the table in order to help her having all the data she needed to see without having someone to turn the pages for her.

Jack let himself fall on his chair and took one of the sheets, gesturing to the others to come near and look at it.

"We think we can manage to call in this time and in this area of the universe their bodies charging their being as they were magnets for their own flesh" Jack announced.

"And we  _can_  do something like this?" Donna asked in absolute distrust.

"We did something similar to flesh magnet with Future Ianto, actually, but I think this is completely different." Gwen reasoned plainly out loud. "That was a matter of offering another place to arrive for something that was already teleporting itself... Besides, back then, that kid Steven made most of the work and they already had proper plans to work with, not to count that here you're supposed to  _charge_  immaterial souls with energy"

"The main problem  _here_  is that we can actually do nothing with void particles theoretically speaking." Ianto explained. "Through our analysis, however, we discovered that these particles don't have the same consistency of what we had at One, proof is that we can go through them and we're not shook away by a force field. There actually is a chance that some of the tests will give different results from the ones we got, permitting us to charge those particles or whatever it's actually contained inside"

From the glances the others gave him, except obviously Jack and Tosh, Ianto could easily guess that no one was getting a single word of what he was speaking about.

"Let's just say that we need to finish to go through the encrypted and typed folders from One we have in the archives" Jack explained in a easier way to the others. "Donna you take the typed, Ianto in the meanwhile will go through the encrypted"

Both Ianto and Donna nodded dutifully, so he proceeded to give the remaining orders, staring at the others.

"We'll need to build a machine to charge them. A  _big_  machine. Rhys, I'm sorry but this time we'll have to rely entirely on your connections to get the material and bring it to base. I wrote some kind of alloys that might be useful, but they are quite rare. Unfortunately those are the only compatible ones that came to my mind. This time things need to be a little more precise, since we're not sure if we're actually heading in the right direction"

Rhys took the piece of paper Jack was handling him and nodded, already scanning his mind for people to call that might be useful for his task.

"Gwen, you're the most experienced here along with Ianto, so please assist Owen with the new tests he has to conduct on himself." He waited for her to nod and then turned to Shaun. "Ianto told me you have some basics for plans and projects, can you read these?"

Shaun glanced at the papers Jack was pointing and nodded. "Yeah, I can understand some of the basics. I can help draw a new one, but I can only offer the hand to sketch. I never saw a machine complicated like this"

"Don't worry, that's enough" Tosh told him warmly. "The technology and science behind all this is… way beyond the 21st century."

Shaun gave her a small smile and then turned to Jack.

"What if we can't figure out how to use this? Who will we have to rely on? Future Future Ianto?"

Jack laughed at that. "If it comes to that we'll have to, but as far as we know he can also be a Future Ianto before the one we already met. We could call him  _Past Future_  Ianto, or better  _Not-so-Future_  Ianto"

Ianto simply rolled his eyes and then glared at his boyfriend. "Don't whore out my name, I still need it"

The captain was tempted to ignore his lover's warnings, but in the end he decided that maybe it was time to turn once again professional and protect the future of  _his_  sex life.

"Shaun you will help me and Tosh understanding this mess Future Ianto left behind and, if we're lucky, sketching the basics down for a new one. So… Now everyone has their task and this should keep all of us busy for a while, but as soon as one of you finishes or has news I want you to report to me immediately, alright? Something new might come up"

Everyone nodded and went to do their own assignment. They worked hard all day, but when Jack finally decided to turn dinner into a ' _Let's summarize what we managed to do today_ ' congregation, they duly noted that everyone had still lots of work to do. Gwen, Donna, Rhys and Shaun offered to stay at the hub to keep working through the night, but Jack would have none of it and tried to send back home to their families everyone including Ianto, who in his own opinion could use the break to explain the situation to his sister.

While the debate was going on, however, they received a call from Donna's family that announced their arrival in Cardiff, partially solving their problems. Rhys left his computer and the phone-books he was using to search for alloy producers' contacts and went to collect them at the supermarket in front of which they had gotten themselves lost.

He explained the situation to the couple, and then they all together went to collect the kids from Rhiannon. On Sylvia's suggestion, they decided to bring the children at the hub to meet their parents, before they took all three with them to a babysitting party afterhours. The plan was easy and gave them a fair amount of advantages: the kids would have seen their parents, Rhiannon wouldn't have been over abused as babysitter, they all could keep working some more and, most importantly, Ianto would have saved himself from his sister's rage.

As soon as the kids and Donna's family entered the hub, Jack declared a small break for everyone and sent Ianto hiding with Toshiko and Owen while he would explain the situation to Wilfred and Sylvia. As soon as everything would be taken care of, he planned to call him via comm to bring the two ghosted officers back to the light.

"So… The ghosts of your former co-workers…" Wilfred was saying fairly impressed, after greeting the captain properly. "I did not know you played ghostbusters now"

"They are not really ghosts, actually, they just look like ghosts" Jack pointed out with a warm smile.

"I bet the kids would love them, you should try showing them off" Sylvia took her chance to propose. "This way you could keep working even if sometimes they want to barge in to see their parents"

"We fear that something might slip from Anwen's lips, actually." Jack explained sadly. "The other two are too young for that, but... If there were voices going around about ghosts, this time the government will take its chance to have our heads"

"Still not solved?" Wilfred asked, patting sympathetically the Captain's shoulder.

"Getting worse" Jack said with a loud sigh, and then glanced around himself to be certain that Ianto was not around by chance. "They keep trying discrediting us with the Queen and, if we don't get anywhere with UNIT before tomorrow, I will have to ask Her protection for Torchwood.  _Again_."

"She's still with Torchwood though?" Sylvia asked, worried for her daughter if something like the children ordeal were to happen again.

"Yes, of course. Now at least, we all know what we can expect from the Government, but they are not the only problem" Jack continued still in the lowest tone he could muster. "People around Her Majesty begins to wonder why we're always involved in strange situations and this is getting Her in trouble along with us"

Jack sighed and then smiled back at them. "Anyway, let's stop here with the top secret matters and thanks again for being our liaison with London. Now, we'll have to start working again or this sleepover won't be helpful at all"

As they moved along, however, all of sudden the lights went out.

They all stood still, while Jack tried to activate their own generators with his wrist-strap, but much to his surprise none of their back-ups worked.

"Ianto!" Jack called alarmed.

"Jack!" Ianto's voice came from afar. "The power we've been stocking for emergencies is gone!"

Even though he still couldn't see him, he could hear Ianto's voice approaching him rather quickly.

"What do you mean gone!?" Jack asked taking out his gun to be ready in case something happened.

"We were hiding where there are the energy controls, and the stocked energy was ground zero." Ianto explained. "There must have been a blackout… but I don't understand! If that was the case the emergency circuit should be operating by now, we've not just the reserves as back up energy means"

"I tried to activate everything, but none worked. Have you checked the cables lately?"

"Everything was fine, I finished the basic maintenance two weeks ago" Ianto countered, sounding deeply annoyed by Jack's theory. "The only chance is that someone isolated us from the alien underground generators… But those are supposed to be for Torchwood use only!"

"It's not the same thing that happened with my Donna, isn't it?" Wilfred interrupted worried.

"No, no… It's not that…" Jack muttered, his voice wavering a bit.

"Jack, you know what's happening!?" Ianto cried out reproachfully, now just few inches from him.

"It's nothing, really" Jack managed to say, his voice holding a guilty inflection beneath the failed chuckle he was attempting that didn't go unnoticed by Ianto. Worse than that, Jack's voice was so uncertain that didn't even manage to fool Wilfred and Sylvia, who were staring at his general direction dubiously.

"First thing first: Wilfred and Sylvia, you need to go back to the children" Jack ordered, hoping to save himself somehow from his lover's fury. "I might need Donna and Gwen and you will be safer with Shaun and Rhys"

This time the captain's voice was more strong and certain, so father and daughter actually tried to follow his orders without complaining and especially without tripping in the pitch black and unfamiliar hub. Not much time after though, Gwen ran forwards to Jack, worry clear in her voice.

"Jack, they did it, didn't they!?"

Jack desperately rushed towards the source of her voice and shushed Gwen hastily. He had no need to see him to feel Ianto glaring at him though.

"Is there something I should _n't_  know about?" Ianto drawled annoyed. "Because we've quite some problems here!"

"It's nothing Ianto" Gwen cooed, trying to reach him through the darkness to stop any sudden movement from him and at the same time cursing herself to have thought that Ianto was still have been still hidden away with Owen and Toshiko.

When she had almost managed to reach him, however, a flash of pearly white light bypassed them and went up towards Jack's office. Ianto promptly followed it, escaping both Jack's and Gwen's attempts to stop him.

"Tosh, please!" Jack cried, running after them with Gwen tagging along at short distance.

Once inside the office, Toshiko stopped right over a sheet of paper that had fallen on the floor right next to Jack's desk. Ianto looked at her uncertain for a moment before grudgingly taking it in his hands to read it.

"What does this mean?" He said slowly, as soon as he felt someone approaching him from behind.

"Ianto please, leave this to me" Ianto felt his boyfriend, now right behind him, trying to take the paper from his hands. "I'm already dealing with this and Gwen is helping me. Now we've also Tosh's assistance, so don't worry, we have it whole covered"

"But this is nonsense! They can't give us the responsibility of the 456… Not using my coming back as an excuse. Six years passed!"

"That's why this whole thing is hilarious, and also why I don't want you to deal with it" Jack explained calmly. "Now we have more urgent matters to handle than the silly things they keep inventing to clear their conscience in front of the public opinion"

"Why now?" Was Ianto's brutal question instead.

"One of the people who should have been sent to prison for the children ordeal decided he wanted to get back in the government staff" Gwen explained guiltily "We think he wanted to wait until everyone forgot what actually happened on purpose, to hit the public opinion with false references and distort the truth. I'm sorry, honey"

"So they used  _me_? To call us liars?"

"They know we are protected" Jack clarified. "So London simply decided to harass us with the help of everyone on their pay check. UNIT got the governmental support while dealing with us in the past, so now they could do nothing but follow their orders and give us an hard time"

"Why… Why don't we just give up?" Ianto's weary and tired voice worried Jack, who moved in front of his lover to stare at him in the face, thanks to the light provided by Toshiko's ghostly figure.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, fearing what could come out from his lover's mouth.

"We have too many things to deal with: the government, UNIT, the Rift, Tosh and Owen. Our partnership can wait, especially if it manages to get the lights shining on us when I should be dead"

Despite her best judgment, Ianto could heard Gwen snigger at his side. "Ianto, if you wait for everything to be quiet around here, you will never get married. Trust me on this"

"We should be getting our power back in a couple of hours if this has really been just a blackout, then we'll look into why the emergency supply are ground zero and why the back-ups didn't activate" Jack offered warmly, trying to hide the hurt of Ianto's words and mentally thanking Gwen for her practical save. "I know it's long enough to mess up with whatever we should have been dealing with, but there's much else we can do at the moment"

As if on clue, a loud grumble echoed inside the hub and they heard Donna rush upstairs to them.

"The vaults opened! The  _guests_  are trying to take down the door to the hub!"

"Damn!" Jack swore as he quickly thought what they could do. "Don't we have some procedure to follow for his cases?"

"You're the boss!" Gwen reprimanded him, punching him on the shoulder. "Shouldn't you know about them if there were some?"

"Each procedure requires at least some basic energy resource to be working, that's why we had plenty and most of them for personal use" Ianto explained dutifully. "Here goes nothing."

"You know, for how many times we've been cut out from energy, electricity and phone network, we should really create a specific not-power-related protocol" Toshiko added in Gwen's same annoyed tone.

"Things are complicated around here" Jack said with a frown, defending himself. "And as I've already pointed out to you, lately we've been working more or less a pair at time!"

"And this reminds me, that we need to protect the kids, now. I don't think we can get them outside" Toshiko continued worried.

"We're shut off all the archives too" Ianto confirmed as he scanned his own mind for alternatives. "And we've nothing outside of them, none of us have been working alone on alien tech recently"

Ianto punched he himself Jack's shoulder in retaliation. "I told you it was a bad idea automating everything!"

"Oi, stop this you two, I'm not a punching bag!" Jack countered, massaging his shoulder. "We had no other choice with UNIT spying on us!"

"Boys, we need a solution not a marital quarrel!" Donna complained, urging the matter.

"We… Enter the vaults?" Jack proposed awkwardly, looking at Ianto, who stared back at him raising an eyebrow unsurely.

"Jack, I'm immortal, not stupid. Down there it's pitch black! I don't think it would do us any good giving them us as a late dinner, we wouldn't have even the smallest chance to even hurt them a little in order to slow things down"

"I could come with you, you will be able to see like this" Toshiko proposed.

"No" Jack told her as the very picture of what could be happening once inside crossed his mind. "But we could bring Owen. You go down with Donna's family and keep the kids busy. At this point we can't help it. On the pro side, you will also manage to give the others enough light to defend themselves in case they were to come out."

"This could work" Ianto admitted nervously. "Time to die?"

Jack sighed and patted him resignedly on his shoulder. "Yeah, sorry. Time to die. Gwen? You and Donna please guard the door to the vaults closely and be ready to shot, we have no idea how much time injuring them will buy you"

The girls nodded, even though Gwen was biting her lips worriedly.

"Please be careful"

They both smiled at her and then headed downstairs to put their plan into action. As much he claimed to hate Ianto and considering how he had tried to kill Jack with his own hands, Owen wasn't quite ok in having to see his two friends dying, but since without him they would have ended up much more mauled than they were about to, he had no other choice than accept his orders.

As they reached for the door, Donna stayed behind, whilst Gwen got ready to shut close the door once the boys had gotten inside. In a fraction of time she opened and closed it behind her friend's back. She had to shut her eyes close and rest for a moment with her back to the entrance as she heard the shots and the growling of the beasts that were followed way too soon by Jack and Ianto's cries of pain and anguish.

She took a deep breath and reached Donna's side, getting ready to fire, as Tosh finally managed enough strength to move enough to lighten up the surroundings enough for both groups. Donna stared at Gwen and then behind her at the three children, sniffling in fear as they looked up full of hope at Toshiko, and made her decision: she took a mobile from her pocket and began scrolling down the list of numbers on it.

"Donna, what are you doing?" Gwen asked, even more surprised as she realised whose mobile it was. " That's-"

"Ianto's phone." Donna confirmed in an angrier way she had intended to. "He gave it to me."

"Donna…" Gwen offered kindly.

"Gwen, they're getting mauled behind that door!" Donna yelled, near to break through hysterics.

"They will come back. There's no other choice, we have to trust them"

"And what about the pain!?" She argued, staring at Gwen with tearful eyes as she noticed her friend close to tears as much as she was.

"Do you really think the government will hear you out?" Gwen asked plainly.

"I'm getting the Queen, I don't fucking care about London… and I'm a Londoner myself!"

Gwen stared at her in shock, but did nothing to stop her as her eyes went again to the cold steel of the vault entrance.

"Let's hope She will sort all of this quickly" She murmured almost like a prayer, as she closed her eyes and the tears began flowing freely without her consent.

Again. Let's hope.

**T.B.C.**


	9. Civil servants' cold war

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

 **Warnings** : Bit of gore, but mostly just mentioned.

 

The Queen was furious.

She had to call forth all of Her self-control to keep up the collected appearance She was famous for, but even after She had put down the receiver of Her phone, Her eyes were still blazing. What She had just heard not only was outrageous, but also put Her in a really difficult position: on one hand She needed to protect Her underlings, on the other hand She also completely lacked the political and technical power to do so.

It wasn't just a matter of accidental lack of knowledge on the matter on the Government's side, She was almost certain that whoever was behind the mess She'd just been informed about wanted to damage Her persona along with Torchwood and this was a problem that dated long before Her reign, since Queen Victoria decided to retain the alien problem within her hands.

This small detail made Her even more responsible for what had happened to Her men, especially to Her favourite captain.

Jack Harkness had always been nice and loyal for as long as he had served under Her reign and also the previous ones. The only times he had failed, in Her eyes, were the two times in which he had disappeared, one of which had brought for the first time in years the Torchwood Cardiff department to its end.

Nevertheless, when the strange but reliable man had come back and explained what had happened to him to make him come to such a drastic decision, She had seen in his too old eyes actual honesty and real pain, so She had graciously forgiven him and accepted all his requests.

She held enough power to bring the whole Cardiff branch back and reinstall as new boss someone as trusted as Harkness was, but She discovered soon how She could not erase the suspicions of betrayal from the people around Her, and even less the thirst of power from people who had lost everything because of their egoism.

And there wasn't just that.

What had always been dormant under the surface, with barely some little dispute they were left to sort out by themselves, this sort of cold war between Her Torchwood and UNIT, without Her knowledge seemed to have now escalated in a much more dangerous confrontation that somehow managed to include the Government itself.

Even worse, she could bet it had been the Government that eventually had brought them at this point, meddling at the apex of the UNIT organization to bring down Her Torchwood once and for all.

Considering the predicament Her organization now found itself in, all of this needed to end as soon as possible.

She wasn't their mother and, moreover, She believed that a little bit of tension between agencies could make both organizations work faster and better. Everything was fine when it involved adults trained for war and emergencies and when lives weren't put at stake. Unfortunately, now the circumstances had become way different, since also children and civilians had been involved and Her most trusted man had been sent to get himself mauled along with his lover to prevent some alien prisoners to break outside their confinement and erase Cardiff's population.

It wasn't the first time tricks at Torchwood expenses became dangerous in these last two years, but the last time She had clearly reminded to the Government that there were also two young mothers in the group and that there was no excuse to put in their games also unharmed civilians. How all of this could have been forgotten in front of the desire to hold more power She simply couldn't understand.

She walked firmly towards the room where She had summoned the heads of the Government and opened the high wooden door by Herself in anger, in front of the worried eyes of the dark skinned young girl that was supposed to be attending Her needs. She was extremely disappointed when in front of Her there was only the head of the energy department, fretting inside the big meeting room with a young boy.

"I hope you gave back Torchwood Cardiff its power in the meantime, sir." She stated coolly, fighting to not make a face in front of the scared man sent to answer Her call and his assistant.

The man made himself even smaller seeing the old and usually calm woman so deadly furious.

"The blackout is everywhere, your Majesty-"

"Torchwood has its own power supplies and generators, separated from the others in case of such emergencies, are you trying to tell me those went malfunctioning by themselves too? Do I  _really_  need to ask for the power supplies logs?"

"Certainly not, your Majesty" He said hastily, seeming more panicked as the seconds passed, especially seeing the Queen's attendant ready to make the call the Queen had mentioned. "But we needed additional power in case of some emergency, the Governmental installments need to be kept ready to operate and…"

"I  _do_  understand." She said with a slight edge of sarcasm hidden in her otherwise grave tone. "And I  _do_  realise also how preventing aliens from running free around Cardiff doesn't seem a prerogative for the Government. May I know why is London even involved in this? Torchwood is mine, but Wales has its own set of laws for such occurrences"

"Well, London is the capital and we thought that getting help from other components of the empire would have been fine…"

"Why not Glasgow, then?" The Queen pointed out, ready to call his game. "Both Torchwoods are currently active. If you sent an e-mail to each of them they might have shared the due amount of power needed between each other instead of depleting only Cardiff! You didn't even warn them!"

"We thought it would have been fine, because… it's night?"

If the situation had been less of a predicament, the Queen would have found herself amused by the statement, but She had an image to maintain, so She tried Her best to contain Her mirth.

"Yes, obviously, we never had alien invasions during the night." She told him mirthlessly with a hint of sarcasm. "You  _do_  realize that the reason why Torchwood pays well is that you need to be ready to work 24/7, don't you"

"Your Majesty" He said with a little bit more confidence. "You  _must_  acknowledge that Cardiff is not reliable. Too many things are off! All they do is hide behind  _Your_  power!"

"Torchwood is a  _Crown_  project and answers only to Me for very important reasons." The Queen pointed out. " _No one_  has the rights to interfere with what they are doing. If they are still operating, it means that everything they do is guaranteed.  _By Me_ "

"The people want answers for the 456!" He insisted, visibly out of sensible answers for the angry Queen.

"Torchwood was one of the  _casualties_  of those monsters, and please, do not make me remind you that such a predicament wasn't by the monster's hand but the Government's!"

"You can't really believe all those stupid stories Harkness told everyone!" He yelled in panic. "What about the real  _facts_  we see!? Should we just accept that officer Jones is back to the livings after four years of deleted records?"

"Officer Jones had been reinstalled two whole years ago and Cardiff was already operative back then" She pointed out calmly. "Just in time, I'd like to say, considering how UNIT was beginning to have its hands full with all the activity from the Rift that had been dormant until then"

"But the people-"

"My people needs to be protected, and I won't let your stupid grudges putting them in danger!" She got even closer to the fretting man and stared at him seriously. "Torchwood emergency power supplies are alien technology. We deemed them safe to work for Torchwood because Torchwood was rebuilt  _entirely_  using that same alien tech, but we don't have any certainties that our machinery won't be infected by something. We've currently Glasgow working on it, but with the amount of new technologies it's hard for them telling if something won't just explode or show a life of its own."

The man paled visibly.

"Despite your arguments against Torchwood, sir, the most dangerous problem I see at the moment is the one  _you_  created." She continued. "If something happens to My people because of those little kindergarten grudges, you can most certainly say goodbye to your job. I bet I can find plenty of ways to have you removed"

The man's eyes widened and he rushed out of the room to follow the Queen's orders. His secretary though, still lingered in the doorway lost in his own thoughts and staring impolitely at Her Majesty.

"If you have something to say speak up, boy." She snapped unceremoniously.

He unsurely walked towards her, biting his lips, his shoulders hunched forwards in submission.

"Why would you keep things secret? If Torchwood is really innocent, why things cannot be explained to the people?"

"People are still not ready to confront the reality Torchwood fights on daily basis." She answered shortly. "And at the moment secrecy is the only thing that will help the organization doing its work. The only thing you, the Government and the people need to do is to trust me, as much as all I can do is to trust them"

"How can you know you can trust them, if you can't even explain the weird things around them! I actually don't think is a bad idea testing them once in a while… This will help the truth to come out if-"

"Boy!" She interrupted him brusquely. "At the moment, your superiors bright idea only managed to put an old man, a civilian woman and three children in danger. Two of them are barely one year old! Moreover the kid's parents are on the front line in front of dangerous aliens that were already taken into custody, and one of my most trusted men is currently being mauled along with his lover to get those parents enough time to find a way out to save their families"

"I'd like to add" She continued even more dangerously calm. "That if the monsters break out from there and Torchwood can't stop them in time, your bosses will have half of Cardiff souls on their name, because those aliens won't be stopped so easily and without the right technology"

The boy swallowed, finding difficult not to stare at the determined woman in front of him.

"I'll warn you" She told him in a more motherly tone. "You're not the first inexperienced kid they will try to use only to have around someone that cannot understand what's going on until it's too late. And you will not be the last. You kids have to be smart enough to understand who you can trust by yourself. Your mind is your own"

After giving the young boy Her admonishment, the Queen turned on Her heels and walked slowly outside the cold room, planning to send someone to make sure that everything was settled in Cardiff and, with a little bit of luck, to bring back Jack Harkness for a more detailed explanation of the events. As she passed near her attendant, she noticed how the young girl's worried stares kept switching from Her to the scared assistant, but She decided to say nothing.

Only when She was already a few feet outside the entrance of the room, She decided to call out for Her attendant. "Lois! Be quick girl, we don't have all night"

Lois finally stopped staring at the concerned boy and rushed to the Queen's side.

"Your Majesty, I could talk with him"

"You  _could_  but you  _won't_ , Lois darling. Not at the moment"

"Your Majesty?"

"He saw you, so he knows who he has to look for if he wants to know the truth. If that happens, you are allowed to explain what Torchwood does just enough to make him understand where his loyalties must lie"

The young girl smiled warmly at the stoic Queen and looked at Her intrigued. "If I may, am I wrong or this is Torchwood's recruitment method? I remember it from the first time I met them"

The Queen's lips curled in a smart smile, but She still kept Her gaze in front of Herself. "It seemed to work well enough for them, I thought it could prove to be useful for us too"

Glad to hear the Queen's opinion on the matter, Lois chuckled and then tried to resume a more professional stand next to Her.

"Do you have any order for me?" She asked, hoping to please Her and to be helpful to her friends.

"I wish for you to get ready to leave for Cardiff" The Queen ordered with a disheartened sigh. "As soon as I arrange the meeting, I need Harkness here in London"

"Until further notice, then" Lois offered respectfully. "I'll try to put my hands on everything that could help them"

"Thank you, Lois" The Queen answered defiantly. "He will need all the help he can get. We need to put an end to these games right now"

 

* * *

 

Inside the hub two more hours had to pass before the light finally came back and they could actually do something productive to subdue the aliens inside the vaults. Thanks to Jack and Ianto's sacrifice, the aliens were currently hauling in pain from the shots and their continuous beating on the door had slowed down considerably in force, even thought they were still doing their best to get out. God only knew how much time they had left before the double steel door ended up smashed down to pieces.

"Finally they did something…" Gwen said almost to herself, relaxing visibly as the suffuse glow of the emergency lights was on.

Donna was even more nervous than before, thought. "What are we going to do now!?" She yelled at her companion.

"Keep your mind focused, Donna." Gwen told her with a determinate stare. "We're going to need everything ready before opening that door, I need you with me"

Keeping an eye on the door and the gun pointed at it, she took some steps back.

"Rhys!" She called. "Get everyone else out and seal the door with the shut-down emergency code! Shaun, I need you to get the sleeping gas bombs from the basic archives!"

Both men scurried away to follow her orders, in front of Toshiko's worried stare.

"I can go and see how they are" She proposed nervously. "They must have seen the light coming back."

Gwen turned to face her and swallowed, considering if she could actually say no to her proposition and hoping that Toshiko was conscious, deep inside herself, that the ' _they_ ' she was speaking about  _had_   _to_  be their alien residents, as the only alive things inside the vaults along with Owen. In the end she hardened her stare and simply nodded to her.

"Wait! What happened to Ianto and the Captain?" Sylvia asked frantic as Rhys tried to lead her outside.

"Naah, nothin' bad." Gwen told her with a forced smile on her lips. "They just died. We'll get them back soon"

Sylvia's eyes widened in shock as she was literally dragged away by Rhys.

"Great, now my mum will think I work with a madwoman" Donna snorted friendly at Gwen.

The Welshwoman considered her words, but eventually she decided she didn't mind them at all.

"It's not like I'm alone in this." She told Donna with a smirk and a wink that were promptly answered back.

Shaun joined them soon, and they lowered the guns a bit, still ready to fire as they made slowly their way towards the door.

"Tosh, you're there?"

Instead of Tosh, it was Owen who passed through the door, looking if possible even paler than his usual ghostly self.

"This is bad, girls" He said in a whisper, staring unsurely at the two women.

"I'm doing the retrieving then." Gwen stated coolly. "I've  _seen_  worse."

All the other three stared at her, suspecting this to have something to do with what happened during the whole 456 ordeal, that still was the only argument no one ever had enough guts to explain in every sordid detail. Anyway now somehow the words " _They made Jack explode along with the hub_ " used by Gwen to describe the beginning of that mess now held a very different weight in their mind.

"Shaun, you throw those smoke bombs inside, we'll have your back. Owen, try to get Tosh out of there and stay with her… I guess she will need human touch- Well, actually ghostly touch, after this one. I'll check by myself though the peep-hole when they are all asleep and then I'll get inside to put them inside the vaults, the gas won't last much. Donna, you keep having my back in case of an emergency happens"

Everyone nodded and then got ready to follow her orders. Owen disappeared inside the vaults first, reassuring Toshiko with his presence and distracting the monsters at the same time, so that when the moment finally came for Shaun to throw the gas, they completely paid no attention to him.

Also thanks to the white smoke that couldn't affect them anymore but was disturbing anyway, eventually the medic managed to drag a shaken Toshiko outside. He gave Gwen a small nod as she passed by her to make her know that the gas was working, and then lead his trembling friend up to Jack's office for a private talk and some well needed hugs. She looked near to faint despite her being a ghost.

Gwen let some more long minutes pass and then took a quick glance inside to be sure that the gas had worked fine, but she closed the peephole as quickly as soon as she had opened it as she noticed the two carcasses that she knew to be her friends. She leant on the cold metal door and took a deep breath, repeating inside herself that even like that they were going to be alright in the end and closing her eyes to shut out of her mind what she had seen.

Donna took a few steps towards her, but as she heard the other woman approach, Gwen regained her cool blood and nodded in her direction to signal her that she was fine.

"I'm getting inside now" Gwen said with a barely audible voice "You stay ready out here, in case something happens"

"Shouldn't I get inside with you to have your back? We'll be quicker together"

"If something happens to me inside, we'll need to contain things from outside. If Rhys doesn't know the procedures, I bet Owen or Tosh can help. Besides…" Gwen needed a second before continuing, giving her the ghost of a smile. "It's not nice to see"

Gwen checked again to be certain that the gas had subsided inside the vaults and that every alien had fallen asleep, and opened the door. As soon as she'd opened it, a shadow passed right next to her, so quick that she could barely feel the air move around her, even less see what it was.

Donna quickly targeted it and some of her shots certainly hit the creature, but they were no help in stopping it. Gwen joined her as soon as she had recovered her gun, but by the time she had a clear view of the alien's eyes and shot targeting them, the thing had cracked through the roof right next to the lift, leaving them to admire Cardiff's starless sky. Myfanwy, after a first moment of surprise seeing her territory invaded, let out a loud screech and went after the disappeared flying alien.

" _That_ 's quite a problem." Donna stated for lack of better things to say.

Gwen took a deep breath and tried to list the priorities in her head.

"Ok, let's stay calm!" She almost shouted, not sounding calm at all herself. "Priorities… We have people that can see the base from outside, our boss is currently dead along with the most reliable of us, the gas won't let the weevil sleep for much longer, we have another alien on the loose and a pterodactyl furiously running after it"

She considered what she had listed and somewhat the initial worry and hysterics were replaced with mad amusement. "Not bad for a night without rift alert"

"Look police girl, keep focused, will you?" Donna reprimanded her, pointing to the hole on their roof. "I think there was a protocol to follow about damages like that one"

"Uh, yeah, protocols" Gwen told her sarcastically, crossing her arms on her chest. "There's only one person who actually knows all of them… and I can tell you he's currently dead and he's not Jack"

As if on cue the girls finally realized a strong smell coming out from forgotten open door of the dungeons. As much as they tried to not to assume things too quickly, they couldn't prevent themselves from thinking that seemed suspiciously rotten flesh.

Gwen felt cramps clutching her stomach, but after the cannibals she had learnt how to control herself. Donna, instead, just run for the bathroom. Shaun stoically resisted a few feet from them, but his dark skin was turning slightly grey.

She threw her mobile at him, trying to look cooler than she actually felt. "Call Andy and tell him that the police has to secure off the entire bay. We're dealing with an emergency. Donna has Ianto's phone, make her call UNIT to tell them we've got an alien on the loose but we can't deal with it at the moment, so we sent out our pterodactyl instead. They should keep an eye out for both. I'll go and fix things in the vaults, just… Don't look inside if you hear them scream"

Shaun did everything Gwen had told him, but both he and Donna found themselves hard pressed to just stay there waiting when they heard the loud screams as the two immortals came back to life still not completely healed. It just happened once, and soon the cries had stopped right after two loud gunshots: they had no need to think too much about it to know what Gwen must have done to end their sufferings.

The three members of the original Torchwood team stayed closed shut inside the dungeons for what seemed to the others to be an awful load of time. In the meantime, Rhys came back to the hub after bringing home the kids and Donna's family and after meeting up half-way with Andy, who had told him about the damages to the structure. Once back inside he had consulted with Donna and Shaun, but they both knew nothing about the security protocols needed.

"Have you thought about asking Tosh and Owen?" Rhys said at a certain point. "They were here even before Gwen and Ianto, they  _must_  know something!"

The other two simply stared at him, surprised about not having thought about that before, and then all the three of them went up to Jack's office, hoping that the two ghosts remembered the procedure to follow.

Once inside, they stared unsure at the couple: Toshiko was lightly sobbing, holding tight to Owen's chest, while the medic tried to somewhat comfort her even though he didn't look much better himself. Somehow it seemed improper to disturb them.

Their doubts were broken by Owen himself, who tightened his grip on Toshiko to keep the girl from fretting away in front of the acquired public, but stared up the newcomers with a worried frown on his face. "What happened?"

"We…" Donna began, glancing insecurely at the two men behind her. "We were wondering if you remembered what to do to cover up the damages to the roof until we repair them... Or something like that"

Owen smirked up at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Jack promoted me as second in command when Suzie died" He began, staring amused as Donna breathed out in relief. "Which is after the tea boy came around."

Donna frowned at him. "Are you trying to say that you never bothered to know the protocols?"

"Not even Jack bothered" Owen pointed out shrugging. "He had everything written down in that small book of his."

"And where is the book?" Donna countered, about to lose her patience.

"How would I know! I'm not the butler here."

"How did you even survived here without Ianto!?" Rhys broke the banter astonished.

"You need to insert the correct access code after opening emergency protocol twenty-six." Toshiko's small voice interrupted their argument. "If they didn't change it, it should be Minerva."

"Minerva?!" Owen complained, as Donna rushed for Jack's computer to follow Toshiko's instructions. "Jack really has a thing for Roman goddesses!"

"Well, the goddess of defence and wisdom is not a bad password choice for a protocol that must protect Torchwood secrecy." Shaun stated, gaining three pair of eyes staring at him. "What? You did not know which one was Minerva?"

Toshiko simply shook her head and winked at Shaun appreciatively. "At least we've some new recruits with a bit of background culture"

After her comment, Donna found suddenly what she was doing with the computer really interesting, Rhys looked down at his feet ashamed, and Owen simply stared at her mildly offended.

After some time, finally the last letter was entered and the command kicked in. All of them, both the fully alive ones and the pseudo-ghosts, went back to the main chamber and stared with their jaw open as the roof moved itself to close the hole. When the gap was finally completely invisible, the sound of machinery going kept on for a while more.

Wondering if she had written something wrong, Donna run to the nearest computer and entered the CCTV channel to check the outsides, only to see the very same rearranging process that had repaired the interiors of the hub, was automatically fixing the Plass too.

"This protocol in incredible" She said, staring transfixed at the screen.

"By the way, why they don't' need the eye scan to run the protocol like us when we tried to open the rift?" Owen argued with Toshiko, finally finding something to use against her.

"Owen, eye scan for  _everyone_  is for the first three protocols only, which should be top secret except for the Torchwood leader." Toshiko explained, surprised at his lack of knowledge. "From the fourth to the tenth, they are also for the second in command to know and you need at least  _half_  of the authorised personal's eye scan. From ten onwards everyone should know and you don't need scanning because they are considered basic maintenance"

Owen just stared at Toshiko intently, his voice void of inflection. "Ianto knew we needed to activate the first emergency protocol to open the rift and also the password."

"Ianto knows everything" She snarled at him in the same tone. "That includes us having a basement"

Rhys had to laugh at Toshiko's serious statement. "You did not know you had a basement?"

"Yeah, yeah. You laugh now, country-boy" Owen reprimanded him. "You wouldn't have found it amusing if you were with us that time, just ask your wife"

Seeing that everything was fine also on the outside, Donna considered calling Andy again to make him drop the securities around the bay, but first she consulted with Toshiko about how safe her idea would have been. The computer genius was glad to have finally something else to focus on, and kindly explained her that the alien technology involved made the repairing real and were not just holograms, so her idea was actually safe play.

They were all beginning to discuss how to move forwards from there, when finally the door to the vaults opened and a very shaken Gwen came out, walking uncertainly on her unsteady legs. Rhys saw her reddish eyes and soon rushed at her to hold her, kissing her on her forehead. She let him take care of her, finding no more strength to do the even easier thing.

"Gwen? Are they…" Donna tried to ask warmly.

Gwen swallowed and nodded. "They're fine. Shaun? They need clothes, could you please bring some of theirs from the bunker under Jack's office?"

"Love, please, hear me out" Rhys told her gently as Shaun went upstairs. "You and Donna need to go home. She can bring you at ours and then you all can stay there with the kids. Have all together a nice sleepover and let us do something useful here for a change"

Gwen stared dubiously at him and then at all the others, staring eventually at Tosh, who smiled kindly at her. "We'll keep an eye on them, Gwen, now go home. The worse is handled and soon Jack will wake up"

Donna moved forwards and entered the dungeons, kneeling unsurely near the half naked bodies of her friends to check their vitals. She breathed out in relief as she felt the slow but perceptible pulse under her fingers.

"They're breathing" She whispered, closing her eyes as she thanked each deity known on Earth for the gift they had given them.

"Yeah, they've finally healed, but the process was too draining and they fell asleep soon after they revived the last time" Gwen told her, sighing tiredly as she snuggled closer to Rhys's chest. "I guess that we can  _really_  call this a day"

After a moment to let Gwen restore her energies, the girls eventually made their way outside the hub, but before exiting the cog door Donna stopped suddenly and turned to throw Ianto's mobile at Shaun. "Before he wakes up check with UNIT and the Queen, they both need to be informed about how the situation is evolving"

"Honey?" He stopped her, before she could move away again. "What happened here tonight, do you think… Is it finished like this?"

Donna and Gwen exchanged looks, unsure themselves about what was the actual meaning behind the events of the night.

"Last time we lost everything" Gwen stated coldly in the end, just a hint of anger discernible in her voice, and then stared back at Toshiko and Owen. "But this time Torchwood is ready again. This time… It ends or this is war"

Toshiko and Owen simply nodded. They did not need to have lived the 456 to understand what had meant for the organization they had lived for and that had given them a new meaning. Ghost or not ghost, mortals or immortals did not matter, because now Torchwood had learned his lesson. They knew that they could trust no one, not even their fellow colleagues and superiors.

They knew when the casual accident ceased to exist and when the real civil servants' war began. Let it be cold or hot, Torchwood was ready to face everything together.

**T.B.C.**

 


	10. Love quarrels and improvements

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

 **DW A/N** : Veiled references to S4E12 The stolen Earth, S4E13 The journey's end, S6E8 Let's kill Hitler and S6E13 The marriage of River song

 

When Donna and Gwen came back the morning after the black out, they found the hub clean, well organized and utterly silent, therefore they weren't much surprised when they noticed the pack of decaffeinated coffee on the counter of the kitchen. The only positive thing in all of this was the knowledge that at least Ianto was now feeling well enough to actually have the chance to be pissed off at something… or someone.

Since the pack was still unopened, though, they thought that there could be still hope to save the day, therefore they went straight to search for him, praying that things weren't as bad as they suspected. When they finally found Ianto, hidden in the basement-level section of the printed archives with his nose deep into coded files and folders, they had the last evidence they needed to know that something  _was_  truly off.

"Morning, Ianto!" Gwen cheered, trying to earn a smile from her subdued colleague. "If you want, since you're so busy, I can prepare coffee for everyone?"

The fact that Ianto actually nodded at her proposal set the girls' disposition from mildly concerned to extremely worried: there was only one thing to do.

Donna snapped her fingers and Gwen disappeared back upstairs to the kitchenette in order to make coffee. While Gwen was busy making the essentials, the curious temp took a chair, turned it backwards and sat on it, resting her chin on the back of the seat and staring at the pouting Welshmen intently.

She waited for Gwen to come back with the coffees and, when her colleague was finally back, she was glad to notice that two rather upset Toshiko and Owen had followed her. When everyone was seated around Ianto's desk and the three that could actually feed themselves had their drink in their hands, silence filled the room, as questioning stares passed among each one of them.

"I sent the men to sleep" Gwen began nonchalantly, guessing that, if no one wanted to be outright in front of Ianto, she could at least share with Donna the bits she had understood from Rhys and Shaun while she was brewing coffee. "Jack has apparently arranged a few camping beds in the interrogation room and in the conference room before storming away"

Donna stared at Gwen first and then at the others, scanning their figure in order to uncover the most significant reactions. The only one who slipped even more forward in his seat, frowning in pure guilt, was Ianto, therefore she faced Toshiko.

"What happened?"

"The Queen called Jack back to London to have a proper report on what happened yesterday" Toshiko began uncertainly. "It looks like the Government used the blackout as an excuse to get the spare power we stored for emergencies and run our back-up generators, so to the already big mess of yesterday night we'll have to add also a probable alien poisoning of whatever circuit used our particular stock. Glasgow said there shouldn't be any problems, considering the small amount of time they had access to our energy supply, but their researches were still incomplete"

"Well, it doesn't seem our problem to handle" Gwen stated unsurely.

"It isn't." Toshiko confirmed quietly. "Glasgow will cooperate with UNIT, but Cardiff doesn't need to be involved. In this mess we're labelled as  _casualties_  and Glasgow as  _consultants_ "

"So, where is the catch?" Gwen asked again, failing to see where the problem would lay.

"That obviously the Government doesn't want to admit that it is its fault" Toshiko continued to explain plainly. "And now it is trying to pressure the issue of Torchwood inability to do its work, adding up to our long list of  _to do things_  also dealing with them to prevent the public to think that we are dangerous… or worse, terrorists"

A serious and worried frown displayed on both Gwen and Donna's faces as they were beginning to get what the problem with their friend could be, but they waited until Owen said its own daily dose of insults towards Ianto, something that they just felt coming, before speaking their mind.

"And obviously with Jack under so much pressure the tea boy had the great idea to say that maybe they shouldn't get on with their partnership ceremony at all! For the second time straight" Owen predictably cheered, his voice dripping with sarcasm as Ianto glared at him. "He got himself one of the loudest scold I've ever seen Jack giving him, or to anyone else for that matter, and then he was sent to do the work he is paid for."

"Jack wants these folders done as soon as possible, so that we can have the full range of data to work with when writing the program that will run the machine to bring their bodies back." Ianto said plainly, biting his lower lip to keep himself from showing how much he'd been affected by Jack's words of before. "He's right, I shouldn't voice my opinion when we're dealing with work related issues. I'm just an employee"

"Ianto, you know that's not true." Gwen cooed, gently taking his hand in hers. "You know Jack is wrong sometimes- Hell, most of the times he is, and even more frequently he needs suggestions. We all have always done that, proof is that lots of times he and I end up fighting too. Also with Tosh, Owen and Donna, if you remember it well. Everything will be fine"

"Yeah, but he can't break up with you!" Ianto argued, pouting even more.

"Well technically he can't break up with you either." Donna pointed out evenly, sipping attentively her coffee. "The very worst he could do is firing you for mixing up personal with private, but even though it was work time he can't blame you for suggesting ways to ease Torchwood schedule"

"Actually if you think about it better, he can't fire you either" Gwen added with a knowing smile, taking Donna's reasoning to its extremes. "Because he would have to fire himself too for the same reason. He took it out on you because you hurt him Ianto, not because you questioned his authority or because the suggestion wasn't proper, this makes him as guilty as you"

Ianto stared up at her, munching nervously his lower lip. "I just wanted to make things easier for him and for the team"

"Yeah, honey" Donna told him, taking his free hand in hers. "But he felt refused. You had just few days to accept the fact that you would get hitched with him, but he must have thought this thoroughly before bringing up the topic to you"

Ianto thought about it for a while, feeling even worse for having his female co-workers fussing over him while dealing with love related problems.

"He was right anyway. I should really finish my work" He said in the end.

"About that" Toshiko butted in. "I did not say anything to Jack since he was already furious with Ianto, but I don't believe it's a good idea to keep trying to get Owen and me back. With all the mess they are putting up for Ianto, what if we were to revive all of sudden? I want my life back, but I don't want to ruin Torchwood trying to get that"

"They are using me as an  _excuse_ " Ianto pointed out coolly. "Even without me or you, they will find something else, you can't deny there's plenty. The whole 456 mess is a proof of that. The only difference is that now they are planning to use the press against us systematically, and press means computers, so more information going around the wire to catch. We  _need_  you Tosh"

"And between one thing and the other we're still without a doctor." Ianto added as an afterthought.

Owen growled at him. "No one asked your opinion, tea boy, and even now you missed the chance to stay where your salary allows you to be"

Ianto and Owen began their personal battle of glares, that was interrupted only by Gwen's calm statement. "I'm with Ianto on this"

Donna nodded her agreement and Ianto took a moment from his fight with Owen to roll his eyes at them.

"Great, I'm on the losing side concerning personal love matters, but on the winning side concerning work-related issues" He muttered.

"At least you're winning somewhere" Donna pointed out with mirth.

"Well, pros and cons don't matter at the moment since to keep working on our schedule were Jack's orders." Gwen stated matter-of-factly. "We can argue with him and give him opinions or blackmails, but we still have to follow his guide" 

Resignedly, Toshiko and Owen nodded and followed Gwen back inside the main hub, leaving Donna with Ianto as she began decoding her part of the folders.

Much time later, also Rhys and Shaun joined them, so they all went back to the original division of partners until it was time for Ianto to phone for the pizza they had decided on for lunch. Even though Jack's coming back before the afternoon was pretty much unlikely, he ordered more anyway, just in case something happened and his boyfriend got back in time to eat with them.

The whole afternoon passed without further delay or news, actually letting the team make some progress along the way. By the time Donna called a pause for dinner with their families and Ianto had her pick a random takeaway coupon, it was already past 8 PM and still none of them had received calls or messages from their boss. Ianto had just finished putting the leftovers away and cleaning everything they had used for dinner, that finally the proximity alarms beeped, signalling to everyone the awaited return of their leader.

Ianto immediately followed him, as Jack leaped steadily up to his office, thanking God that the others were still too busy cooing over their children to actually bother with their boss unless they were called to do so. As if he had timed that -and maybe he actually had- Ianto was there ready to help Jack take off his coat, but his boyfriend, judging from his attitude, either didn't acknowledge his presence or had taken it for granted.

As events turned out, Ianto was really happy to notice that it had just been the second.

"I'm completely worn out" Jack sighed as he let himself fall in his comfortable chair at his desk and stretched like a cat over it.

Ianto wondered what Jack's nonchalance meant and tried to offer him a small smile as he took the decanter of brandy and a glass, filling it up for his boss.

"This will help you relax, sir. There's still both pizza and curry, if you're hungry. Do you want me to warm something up?"

Ianto deference finally broke through Jack's tiredness as he suddenly remembered what had caused it.

"Look Ianto, I'm sorry for what I said. You weren't actually being unprofessional, that was me using work issues improperly"

Ianto shook his head and tried to smile again to him. "I shouldn't have put the partnership ceremony up while we were discussing work"

"You can't stop yourself doing it, if you aren't actually sure of pairing up with me." Jack pointed out sadly, looking away from Ianto to not show him his most pathetic side.

"Jack, you know I want it" Ianto told him warmly, resting his hand on his shoulder.

"Doesn't feel like it" Jack complained, shrugging. "It's the second time in two days you say we shouldn't keep going on with it, that's why I told you off before thinking… I was so afraid of losing you that I almost brought us near a break up"

"Jack?" Ianto took his chance to ask. "Is it true that you thought about it a lot before proposing?"

Jack stared at him wide-eyed. "Why? Who told you?"

"Donna said you got hurt because you had been thinking about it for a long time… I actually thought it was something like the sprout of the moment."

"Ianto" Jack said between embarrassment and amusement. "I understand I'm known to think about the consequences of my actions  _way_   _after_  something happens… But you know what means for me immortality and how my love/sex life had been until I met you. It's  _obvious_  that I thought about it a lot before asking you. Besides, you can't really believe that the ring on your fingers was bought at the first jewellery I found open before getting back from a rift alert."

Ianto felt extremely ashamed of himself, and looked away from his boyfriend as his cheeks slightly coloured red. Jack looked up at him and shook his head, motioning for him to come closer. As the Welshman obliged, he took a firm grip on his tights and stared at him adoringly, before slowly moving them upwards to get a solid grip on his well shaped cheeks.

"I've run and waited so much in my life, that now I  _need_  to have my life back. Will you share it with me?"

Ianto's smile spread naturally on his face this time, and he quickly straddled his lover to capture Jack's waiting lips in a deep and hungry kiss. Tongues entwined and hands roamed desperately over their shirts, as Ianto tried to show with his body rather than with his words how much he wanted to share his life with his lover. He was about to ask Jack to take a moment for themselves and disappear inside the bunker they still kept for emergencies at the hub, when a soft cough coming from the door interrupted them.

When they turned, they found a very embarrassed and very speechless Gwen staring at them awkwardly.

"I-I'm sorry." She said laughing nervously, as a less ashamed Owen fluctuated right behind her over-confident.

"Well, Gwen, at least this time they're still fully clothed!" He laughed sarcastically.

Ianto pushed himself away from Jack, trying to recompose the little bits left of his dignity, whilst Jack simply stayed where he was, looking smug despite the tent showing between his legs completely exposed to everyone's stares.

"Is there an actual reason for you to protect my virtue or you just wanted to say hello?"

"Ehm… Actually, we just sent the kids at home with Donna's family. We wanted to know how it went with the Queen and tell you about what we achieved in the meantime..."

"Oh well, about the last one I'm sure Ianto was ready to  _fill me_  in" He smiled sardonically, getting equal blushes from everyone else in the room, Owen included. "But, don't worry, the meeting went fine. It was tiring, but we averted the worst for the moment."

"For the moment?" All the others asked at unison.

"Yeah, but I'd like to speak to the everyone, if we're doing this" He turned his chair to face them and sat properly by his desk. "Gwen, call the others in"

Gwen nodded and disappeared downstairs, soon reappearing along with Donna, Rhys, Shaun and Toshiko. Jack explained in details what had happened the night before and what the Queen had discovered talking with the head of the energy department.

Today, She had convoked, along with him, the same man again, other members of the Government that were supposed to cover basic emergencies such as blackouts and also the prime minister himself. That conference had been what had taken him almost all day, since it had quickly escalated from a disciplinary assembly for the Government to a long list of accusations against Torchwood.

Jack suspected that all the other people involved had actually hoped for such a confrontation, since they were able to present a full and very detailed report on every single accident happened since Jack had become head of Torchwood Three. As Ianto had suspected, his return was only  _one_  of the things they were going to distort to their likings. Apparently, they had punctuated Ianto's current condition with various letters over time only because the situation regarding Ianto was what meant to irritate Jack the most.

They had enough luck, though, that Lois had brought with her a laptop through which they had managed to prove the truth of most of the report written by Jack and sent to Her Majesty. In the end, the Government argued that those proofs could have been easily forged by Torchwood, since they were well known to have clearance for most of the data system, and obviously Jack had countered that most of  _their_  so called proofs were outright lies.

The assembly finished with no winners and no losers, despite Jack's proposition of mud wrestling with the group of the assistants, but at least the Queen had put the Government under the firm observation of Her chosen inspectors. Moreover, they decided to use Lois to get more information about their plans through a young secretary they had scared to death the night before. The only thing they could do now was to wait and hope that what they had done was enough.

As soon as he'd finished his speech, it was the others' chance to bring him good news: Ianto and Donna had finally finished their decrypting work, Rhys had found an acquaintance of an acquaintance's cousins that could cut him a deal on one of the recommended alloys, and finally Owen had run out of experiments to run on himself and was almost certain to have all the data he needed. Toshiko and Shaun were still working on the project left by Future Ianto, but at least they had gotten somewhere near the logic behind the magnet and how it had been designed.

Toshiko even tried to explain the mechanism to everyone, but nobody managed to follow it -except, maybe, Jack- so she simply gave up.

Eventually, the captain sent everyone to sleep, telling them that as soon as they were awake they would have to keep all working together with Toshiko and Shaun to finally put to good use the data they had been collecting and compose everything together. He put on one of the monitors a long series of documentaries about the evolution of technology in the last ten years to entertain Toshiko and Owen, and then went to  _sleep_  himself, bringing Ianto with him in his bunker to resume what Gwen had previously interrupted.

 

* * *

 

 

The good night of ' _sleep'_  did good to everyone, so the following days were full of new ideas, practical improvements on the Tosh/Owen problem and, quite predictably, a lot of rift activity and the amount of obviously unforeseen events that had to be expected when a Torchwood Three member wanted to get married or something close to that. Apparently, since  _two_  officers were involved this time, things decided to get even worse.

Even though Jack and Ianto still took as a firm point the possibility of having Toshiko and Owen back to normal before their partnership, they had to come to terms with the fact that, since they had organized the double stag party for three days prior to the ceremony, there was no chance to achieve such result before that day. For a while, they thought about moving it to the evening before their partnership, but the rift predictor program sent their plan to pieces as soon as they actually checked the feasibility of it.

In the end, they waited until the day before the stag party, hoping to finish the device in time, but even after days working almost non-stop the machine was still uncompleted. Therefore, Ianto took the situation in his hands and used his supreme abilities to settle everything where it was supposed to be in the smallest amount of time. In less than three hours he had: cancelled the prior arrangement at the night club they had chosen, hired a catering and subverted the entire main area of the hub in order to make room for guests and everything.

Jack made his personal contribution to the event gathering a proper number of male and female strippers, telling them that it was a horror sci-fi themed event and that the alcohol would be free for them. Between the alcohol and the Retcon he was planning to give them, he was sure no one of them would question the presence of two ghost amongst the guests and the hi-tech stuff they would have to hide in the darkest corners and pretend it didn't exist.

Tech-wise, Jack only hoped Martha was right and that the Doctor could really come to his stag party, so he could snatch a consultation on the spot since they would already be inside the hub. Unfortunately, the words the Time Lord had said to the young UNIT medic had been ' _Of course I'll be there! I won't miss Jack's stag party if it was the end of the world!_ ', sounding just a bit too close for comfort to what could actually happen that very same day to the unpredictable alien.

Despite Jack and Ianto's fears, however, the party had begun without hassle and, after some time, when already Ianto's new dink-when-nervous habit was about to brush off on his future partner too, finally a familiar bow-tie appeared.

The Time Lord looked around the hub amazed, taking in the huge transitory disco renewal, and then trotted happily to hug Jack.

"Jacky! You have no idea how much I was waiting for you to invite me to this! I  _knew_  you would be having a stag party at some point, even before  _his_  coming back!" He chirped happily, nodding towards Ianto, who was unappreciatively drinking some blood red cocktail with the same expression of a person wishing to be drinking the blood of the human being in front of him.

"We're both happy that you could made it" Jack said warmly as he freed himself from the Doctor's hug and walked back at his boyfriend's side to elbow Ianto's ribs. "We have a lot of news to tell you!"

"Oh, gods." The Doctor said miserably. "Don't tell me you're pregnant."

Jack laughed and shook his head, whilst Ianto plainly glared at the Time Lord. "Why should it be a problem, if Jack was pregnant?"

"Then you are!" The Doctor stated, staring suspiciously at Jack.

"I am  _not_!" The Captain clarified, hoping to shut the argument once and for all. Aside the little interlude at Alice's, he and Ianto had still not discussed the chance of having children, and being him certain to not want any as much as he was certain that his boyfriend would have liked some at some point, he knew he had better save the yelling for after the partnership and deep in the future.

"Oh, well, that's good." The Doctor said, way more relaxed. "We can't have your 51st century genes creating loopholes through the whole fabric of the universe."

His relaxation turned suddenly into confusion as he saw Jack hiding his face behind his hand and Ianto smirking evilly, since they both knew that  _she_  was too close to them to not have heard those words.

"I hate you" A firm womanly voice quipped from behind the Captain, eliciting a even smugger smirk from Ianto as Jack plainly swore under his breath.

Jack stifled a nervous laugh to cover up the awkward moment, and moved aside a bit to do proper presentations.

"Doctor, please meet my daughter. Alice Carter. No, she's not Ianto's."

The Doctor stared at the glaring woman with his jaw open, wondering how to save himself from his gaffe.

"Please to meet you! I'm the Doctor!" He chirped happily, offering her his hand to shake even when she just stared at it like it was dirt.

"So, how would I be a loophole?"

"C'mon sweetheart" Jack tried to mediate between the two, caressing his daughter's shoulders lightly. "He doesn't mean any bad. The Doctor is a good friend"

Alice stared suspiciously at her father with both her eyebrows risen. "Whose friend?"

"Jack's." Ianto answered curtly before Jack could play the friendly companion for him too.

Alice stared pleasantly surprised at her father's boyfriend and freed herself from Jack's light grip to take Ianto's arm.

"Then I'm changing father for tonight. See you later, dad" She said with a hint of challenge to her father, dragging the Welshman away.

The Doctor stared at the scene and patted Jack friendly on his shoulder.

"You could lend him to her, you know?" He proposed, seeing Jack's still dumbstruck expression as he saw his daughter shamefully stealing his husband to be. "You would make her happy and when the time comes you will be getting him back anyway"

The Captain glared at him until the Time Lord guessed to have actually said something rude and inappropriate, so the Doctor innocently showed up his hands in surrender. "Ok, sorry. Alien. Don't understand you. I come in peace?"

"Let's go meeting your surprises" Jack told him tiredly, taking him by his arms and pushing him onwards.

The Doctor let Jack lead him around a bit unsure of what surprise he could expect, but soon his eyes lighted up in joy.

"Martha Jones! You did not change at all!" He leaped out of Jack's grasp, hugging her tightly. She held him back with the same strength, smiling widely.

"You changed a lot, though!" Martha told him, taking in his new appearance. "Still chasing adventures in time and space?"

"Obviously! What would I be doing? Marry and take my parents in law across the universes?" The Time Lord answered back with a so fake smile on his lips that both Jack and Martha wondered for a moment whether or not that had been something that the Doctor had actually done recently.

"Good to see you again, Doc" A deep male voice came from behind Martha, making the Doctor stare up over her head to see who he was.

"Ricky!" The Doctor yelled in surprise.

"It's Mickey" Mickey told tiredly to the Doctor, smiling widely all the same.

"Of course is Mickey." The Doctor corrected himself, gesturing friendly towards him. "Mickey Micketty Mickey!"

"You will need to come and see us at home one day!" Martha interrupted them over excitedly. "I can't wait for you to meet my twins!"

"Twins!?" The Doctor stared at her wide eyed and then he focused on Mickey. "You mean that there's a little Ricky walking around the world?"

"Yes, Doctor" Mickey answered him, trying to contain his mirth. "It's actually a little Ricky."

The Doctor stared at both of them with his mouth open for a while before realization dawned on him and he let out a suffocated laugh as he shook his head amused. "Can't believe you actually named one Ricky"

"Well, you know" Martha explained gleefully. "The name Doctor would have been a little too much unusual."

The Doctor stifled an embarrassed laugh and then turned to Jack. "Great, absolutely astonishing… Fantastic I would have said when I met you! Still hardly a surprise, knowing you guys"

"This was the appetizer, the main course has still to come" Jack answered him with a charming smirk as he nodded a little bit further on Martha's left, where another well know woman stared at them in complete shock. As she wondered if it would be a good time for her to join, the Doctor found himself wondering if it would have been for him a good time to run.

"Donna. Guilt. Noble" The Doctor muttered in panic.

Jack, however, pushed the Time Lord towards Donna at the same time as she rushed over them to hug him. The Doctor needed a few moments to actually realize that it was all really happening, but then let himself go and tightened his arms protectively around her, slightly overwhelmed by the overload of mixed feelings he was experiencing.

"You are an asshole, space-boy!" Donna cried in between her tears, and the Time Lord felt himself smiling at her despite his best judgement.

"You being so blunt have a strange effect on this me, you know?" The Doctor countered, not leaving her for a second.

"Oh, you mean it's finally working?" Donna teased him.

They both ended up laughing, until eventually they parted and the Doctor looked at Jack.

"How is this possible? There was no solution"

"We…" Jack tried to explain with nonchalance. "Had a bit of an unconventional problem that ended up getting Donna involved"

"What!?" The Doctor asked worriedly. "When!?"

"The day after you talked with me and Ianto, actually"

"Ooh…" The Doctor realized amazed. "That's why I lost it, for me  _this_  is the day after our meeting"

"What?" Jack asked bewildered.

"Well, I wanted to be sure it was  _this_  me at your stag party. It  _had_  to be this me otherwise it wouldn't have worked. Let's say it's a personal reason that I need… to show in the face… of someone"

The others pretended to accept his explanation and simply nodded, gaining an elated "Good boys" from the Doctor as a thanks.

"So… You remembered everything?" He asked Donna, who was still looking at him disorientated by the changing in appearance.

"Not exactly" Jack explained instead of her. "She completely lost the memories about the stealing of the Earth."

"So why is she here?" The Doctor asked curiously. "You kept in contact nevertheless? You never met before that time"

"I hired her actually." Jack answered proudly.

"You what!?" The Doctor stared at Jack with an unreadable expression on his face and then looked back at Donna. "But when I saw you last time you were getting married!"

"Oh, but I am married! You thought I would stop working after getting hitched?" Donna countered, and then turned behind her. "SHAAAAUUUN! Get your ass over here!"

In few seconds Shaun appeared obediently at his wife's side, offering his hand to the Time Lord with a kind poker face that could rival Ianto's.

"Then  _you_  are the famous Doctor. I saw you hanging about sometimes"

The Doctor took his hand and shook it as if he was in a trance, before turning to Donna.

"But… I thought you wanted a family and all those human stuff like that?"

"And I have them" Donna told him with a smile, hugging her husband's arm.

"With Torchwood?"

She nodded, smiling at him as she tightened her hold on her husband.

"It's good not missing something every time  _something_  is actually happening, Doctor." Donna explained. "And working here I feel I'm finally useful, that I can make the difference too. I'm finally happy thanks to chance I got to join Torchwood… And especially thanks to you, who first opened my eyes and lead me to them"

The Doctor stared a little more at her and then around himself to look at all his former companions. "You're happy? You all?"

"Of course we are!" Martha told him, taking Mickey by his arm and tugging him closer to her. "It's true that's a bit dangerous sometimes, but someone has to do it or Earth won't save itself. And at the end of the day we can always cuddle close to each other and enjoy our families"

"And another good point of us doing this work is that whenever you need us you know that we will be here" Jack added, stifling a laugh. "We won't be waiting for you anymore, but every one of us will always find enough time for you when you are in need, Doctor"

"I guess I was making matters worse closing up myself on my guilt, wasn't I?" The Doctor said matter-of-factly, staring guiltily down at his shoes.

Jack this time laughed freely and, as soon as he noticed Ianto gravitating back to him, he snatched his boyfriend by his side, dragging him in his arms.

"I told you we just need a hug" Jack told the Doctor, winking at him and tightening his grip on Ianto.

Gwen, who was staring at the scene from afar, noticed that whatever the Time Lord and his companions had been talking about seemed to finally have ended, so she took her chance to get Rhys's hand and drag him to say hi to him too.

"Are we interrupting something? We wanted to say hello too" She said, smiling widely.

Her smile soon deleted the absolute embarrassment the Doctor was feeling, as he reached out to hug her too. "The time displacem- I mean, Gwen, isn't it?"

Gwen let the Doctor's unrelated comment slide away as Jack had instructed her to do before, and hugged him back tightly.

"Yeah, and this is my husband, Rhys"

The Doctor shook his hand and then focused back on Gwen.

"I'm so happy to see you managed to stay alive, too!" He told her honestly, earning a questioning risen eyebrow as an answer.

The Doctor sniggered, not wanting to spoil too much of his own past adventures, and then patted Jack's back friendly. "So, is there someone else you want me to meet or we can finally see you and your boyfriend  _dancing_  around with the strippers? I've never been to a stag party!"

"There's another couple of people I want you to meet actually, but this is personal" Jack said slowly. "And for them I'll have to ask a consultation after the party, if it's not too much to ask…"

"Oh, you invited me only because you needed my help?" The Doctor asked suspiciously and Jack frowned.

"When I asked Martha to get you, I still did not know I was going to have this problem." Jack argued and, after scanning the room to see where they were, he gestured to Toshiko and Owen to come over.

As soon as he saw them, the Doctor's jaw dropped in amazement.

"Doctor, allow me to introduce doctor Owen Harper and Toshiko Sato, computer genius."

The names made the Time Lord look abruptly back at his friend. "What have you done now?"

Jack's frown increased even more. "Why do I always have to be responsible for everything?"

Ianto caressed affectionately his chest to calm him down and, much to his credit, the diversion actually succeeded. The Doctor on the other hand simply sighed and smiled awkwardly at Jack.

"So… How did it happen this time?"

"We have no idea." The Captain admitted. "We think we got why they are not properly alive, though, and maybe we also have a solution. The predicament is that the device is still incomplete and we're are at a dead end"

The Doctor nodded absentmindedly as he scanned the two ghosts with his sonic screwdriver.

"I wouldn't mind getting involved" The Doctor stated eventually. "This sounds interesting"

Ianto had to groan at that. "Of course Owen's situation would be interesting, while mine was simply wrong"

Jack tried his best not to laugh and held his lover tighter, leaving a kiss on his temple.

"What, the toy boy is getting jealous?" The Doctor asked sincerely, not understanding all the implications his question could have.

"Toy boy?" Owen asked interested, getting the Time Lord easily excitable attention back to him.

"Yeah, cool nick name isn't it?" The Doctor confirmed enthusiastically.

Martha looked just a bit thoughtful before stating the obvious. " _Toy boy_? Where does this come from? I think I already heard it referred to Ianto"

"The General." The Doctor explained seriously. "I mean a UNIT General, not a general General."

"And obviously he had to take only the smartest bits out of UNIT." Ianto complained with more than a hint of irritation as Owen burst out into laughter.

"You will become my best friend if you enjoy making fun of the tea boy as much as I do"

"Tea boy?" The Doctor asked confused and a bit surprised before turning to Ianto. "I thought you were an archivist"

"I  _am_  an archivist." Ianto argued glaring at both of them. "I'm also on general support duty  _and_  I do research too, since I was Torchwood One"

"Oh, you are from One..." The Doctor half remembered and half considered.

"I thought we told you." Ianto countered acidly.

"One more reason to slightly dislike you." The Doctor considered seriously, earning Ianto's honest hate for that.

Jack moved between the Doctor and Ianto gesturing for both of them to calm down.

"Let's leave the complaining to after the party, alright?" He said with a charming smile that had almost no reaction over his friend and his lover. "I think I saw the strippers already warming up"

The girls disappeared in a flash, and after the initial moment of disorientation, their husbands run after them worriedly. Jack laughed at the scene and then motioned for the Doctor and Ianto to follow the same path.

"C'mon Doctor, let me show you how stag parties are made."

**T.B.C.**

 


	11. Future sent support

**Disclaimer:**  I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

 **Warnings** : Time overlaps. No Doctor was abused during the writing of this chapter, only his fashion sense. Graphic sex with a bit of tentacles near the end

 

The Doctor was left staring astonished at all the sex related plays and innuendos he had seen during the whole evening. He knew 51st century guys were wild and free on that matter, but now his idea of the 21st century population as more repressed and conservative had shattered. As it seemed, it was only neatly contained into appropriate situations and locations, but the untamed 51st century spirit had apparently come out from somewhere.

When Martha and Donna had mentioned they children at the beginning, he had vaguely asked himself why the girls had not brought them at the party too. After a long detailed explanation, courtesy of the woman he had discovered to be Ianto's sister, he had finally understood why it wasn't common occurrence having minors at parties like this, despite even Rhiannon had to admit that this one was a little bit more forward and wild than the usual ones.

He was happy, though, that even if both boys and all the women had enjoyed the strippers –the husbands were too worried about their wives' honour to enjoy the shows– in the end everyone had gravitated to their companions. It was something that simply made his heart melt.

When everyone but Jack, Ianto and the two  _ghosts_  had gone home, the Doctor finally had the chance to have a look at the projects and at the device they were working on. After a lot of incoherent mumbling and a lot of screwdriver scans, he eventually took few steps back and gave his response.

"Absolutely magnificent" He commented amazed. "Way beyond 21st century common Earth technology."

"We took inspiration from some plans Future Ianto left behind and we also brought up old One tests and reports on void particles. Everything else is only our Tosh's genius." Jack explained proudly.

"I see…" The Doctor mumbled, glancing back at the blueprints Ianto was showing him. "You basically created a chamber that could ' _magnetize'_  their essence, defined by the void particles that are at the moment representing some sort of immaterial field that permits us to see them but, at the same time, keeps separated what they are by their actual body. Is that correct?"

His words had just a shocked silence as an answer, until finally Toshiko took pity of her co-workers and nodded in the Doctor's direction.

"Well, you did a great job on that, considering you are a bunch of 21st century apes  _plus_  a 51st century ape."

"Now, again with this ape joke?" Jack reprimanded him, smirking unsurely.

"I'm not joking!" The Doctor protested seriously. "You  _are_  apes!"

The others rolled their eyes, until eventually Jack took things back in his hands. "So, any suggestion?"

The Doctor simply stared back at the machine thoughtfully.

"Everything is fine, you only lack something that would actually make the soul merge with the body despite the void field and after the flesh bypassed time and space, in order to reach a point inside the Earth atmosphere so that the ties aren't so much stretched. I even think I know what that could be, I've heard a lot of talking about those"

"You don't seem pretty ecstatic over this, Doctor." Jack noticed worriedly.

"Because I can't help. I don't have what you need." He said, staring miserably at his friends. "I'm sorry, I haven't even the slightest idea where I could find two of those"

 

**25th century**

Ianto's head was resting on Jack's legs, while his fiancé pressed firmly a wet linen cloth over his eyes with one hand and another similar over his owns. They both looked pretty much worn out.

"You remembered what we were missing in the past?" Jack asked tiredly.

"Yeah..." Ianto answered in the same tone.

"Have we got them?"

"Yep" Ianto answered curtly with absolute lack of enthusiasm. "I remembered having brought those Dogon sixth-eye powered merging devices when we found them on sale on that Mars colony more than half a century ago"

"That colony with those cute fuzzy aliens' breeding places?" Jack asked, reminiscing fondly the memory.

"Yep. The one that got closed ten years after, for enslavement of sentient beings." Ianto quipped, not appreciating the planet as much as his fiancé had and earning Jack's laugh for that.

"You don't like colonies." Jack stated with an edge of tease in his words.

"I  _do_  like colonies, I  _don't_  like Mars." Ianto countered, finishing his sentence with a loud and tired sigh.

"So, what are you moping about, now?" Jack asked quietly. "About Mars?"

"I'm not moping!" Ianto argued and attempted to hit Jack for his teasing. His energy level, however, was enough only to make him barely tap Jack's shoulder with the back of his hand in retaliation. "I'm waiting for those things to void-charge themselves, so that Owen and Tosh can hold them despite the field. We're in an area still filled with void residues: it's an easy task for us, but it would not be so easy for them in the 21st century"

"Yours is not a face of someone waiting, though" Jack pointed out, earning himself a scoff.

"I have no idea how to send them…" Ianto whined tiredly. "What's your excuse for searching solace together with your poor  _at-a-dead-end_  fiancé?"

Jack took away the cloth from his eyes and glared down at his lover. "A screaming newborn is enough of an explanation?"

Ianto tried his best to not laugh at the statement. "I don't remember us having the same troubles with Steven"

"Well, I… I guess we were right about our kids in the end…" Jack admitted, wondering if he could ask for a stronger medicine for his migraine.

"Are you admitting to be a loudmouth?" Ianto teased with mirth.

"Shut. Up." Jack complained affronted, and began tickling Ianto so much that his lover had to move away from his lap to escape the silly punishment, the wet cloth lying on the floor forgotten.

When Ianto had finally stopped giggling, he walked back again to his fiancé on all fours, looking at him seductively in his eyes. "I happen to love your mouth, have I ever mentioned it?"

"Frequently enough to grant you clemency" Jack answered with a lewd grin, giving him a small peck on his lips. "So, what can we do? I'd suggest my wrist-strap, but the Doctor just deactivated it last month."

Ianto gave him a look that clearly showed Jack how much he had trusted his big idea back then. "You thought that it was the perfect chance because he would take pity on you since you were pregnant. Do you realize he didn't even notice?"

Jack growled. "I was already as big as a whale! My plan  _could_  have worked!"

"Yeah with someone else, maybe one that can actually notice things around himself. There's still another problem though" Ianto added worriedly. "I finally found the location of the bodies and I need to find a way to send to the past the temporal coordinates too, but I can't put them together with the merging devices. I don't know why, but paper messes up with their system"

"You write it down on a piece of paper. I think I have the perfect thing in which we can put it inside" Jack said, grinning evilly.

"Anyway" Ianto countered, not too much willing to know what his fiancé proposition was. "I was thinking about asking to the UNIT research department if they had actually salvaged some kind of time teleport. I remember reading something about that in one of your meeting reports, but I never heard the end of it"

"I could call them" Jack proposed innocently.

"I believe you should go back to the kids. It's not like I don't trust the others around them, but I feel safer if there's at least one of us with them, besides, you still need to rest. I'll help you out as soon I finish up with this mess"

Jack gave him his most pleading look, but since Ianto had finally managed to get immunity to that, he had to simply obey to his order, while his fiancé took out his comm and fidgeted with it until he eventually got the UNIT code correctly.

Ianto could only hope that he could get what he needed from them, or else he wouldn't really know where to bang his head against at the moment.

 

**Present: 21st century**

 

"C'mon tea boy, give up." Owen said, staring worriedly at his former co-worker.

Ianto simply glared up at him, and kept his work going, extracting yet again another piece of alien tech from the archives.

"What about this?" He asked the Doctor, showing him a blue and red cube, but as always the answer was only a dramatic shaking of his head.

"Owen is right" Jack interjected. "You can't take out every single device we have in the archives!"

Jack saw both his lover and the Time Lord turn slowly at him, their eyes full of determination and resentment for such a stupid suggestion.

"There still isn't something I can't crack!" They said in unison and went back to their scavenging.

Gwen slowly walked next to Jack and rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. "This should tell you something, doesn't it?"

"That they are way more similar than one would think?" Owen complained, fluctuating away from the two rummaging men. "Please, don't tell Ianto I said this or it will ruin my reputation, but I'm worried about him. He and that Time Lord of yours ended up asleep in the archives yesterday night. By exhaustion. Ianto might be immortal, but he's still human"

"At least now they agreed to some sort of truce" Toshiko offered kindly, floating a bit higher to watch the scene better.

"Against me?" Jack complained, pouting at her. "That's not quite how I had imagined the day before my partnership"

"You can take the next rift alert?" Gwen offered with a playful smile. "That would take your mind off things"

"I don't want to take my mind off things, I want to find a solution to the problem" Jack retorted warily.

"I've been wondering" Toshiko said dubiously after a while. "Gwen said Future Ianto had joked about how they had managed to get here by chance, since the Doctor kept breaking your Vortex Manipulator. What if they actually want to help us but don't know how they can send here what we need?"

All the people around her, along with the Doctor and Ianto, stared at Toshiko bewildered with their mouths hanging open.

"I didn't think about that…" The Doctor muttered shocked at his own negligence. He exchanged glances with Ianto and then both of them rushed outside the hub to get to the T.A.R.D.I.S., followed suit by a slightly more hopeful Jack. Toshiko instinctively attempted to go after them, but she suddenly realized that a ghost on the Plass would have been a little bit hard to explain, so she decided to stay put and waited for the others to come back.

As soon as the three men got to the T.A.R.D.I.S., the Doctor began fumbling around the commands, pressing buttons and moving levers, until eventually one of the screens lightened up and he jumped satisfied in front of it.

"I can't believe it! I've really got a contact!" The Doctor cheered happily.

"When from?" Jack asked curiously.

"Oh… Something around the end of the 25th century, incredible they could actually manage this" The Doctor mumbled as he turned a small wheel to boost the signal. "The teleportation system is quite patched up, but it should work well enough at least to send small material objects. It would take some time, though…"

"Like a low speed download?" Ianto asked interested.

The Doctor thought about it for a moment and then nodded amused. "I'll triangulate the connection from the T.A.R.D.I.S. to something more portable like, let's say… My sonic screwdriver? So as soon as our time-package arrives we'll have it straight in our hands"

"In your pockets you mean" Ianto pointed out sarcastically, but he only gained a half laugh from his lover for his efforts and a reproachful risen eyebrow from the Time Lord.

"Ok" The Doctor said once he had finished to set the download to his screwdriver. "We're getting the items that should be, hopefully, working and the chamber is completed. I would say we could proceed to magnetize the ghosts?"

"I… think so?" Jack said unsurely. "It should get the bodies moving, who knows where and when they are"

"Right, so shall I get this started?" Ianto said professionally. "You guys are coming back to the hub with me?"

The other men nodded and followed him, even though deep inside himself the Doctor was sure he was missing something important… Oh, well, whatever it was it could wait.

 

* * *

 

 

Once back inside the hub, Jack and Ianto prepared the machine and then waited until Donna came back from the last Rift-related emergency they'd had along with the Shaun and Rhys. When all Torchwood had eventually gathered inside the underground base, all their eyes fixed on Toshiko and Owen, who were both looking quite nervous to try the machine they had worked on so for so many days.

"Don't worry!" The Doctor cheered them up, smiling reassuringly at Toshiko. "You will be fine. The machine is working and you're a genius!"

She smiled shyly and then looked at Owen nervously. The medic smiled at her and took her hand, kissing it briefly before tugging her lightly towards the entrance of the chamber.

"Whatever it happens, Tosh" He told her. "I'm happy I'm doing this with you. I trust your work"

Then he turned to the others, as they stopped halfway through the metal door.

"And I trust your work too, tea boy" Owen smirked nervously at him and then joined Toshiko inside the device.

Ianto stared at them, fearing to have forgotten something or to have considered the wrong variables on the table now that they were finally going to test the product of their long researches. Jack noticed his doubts and put his hand on his shoulder, smiling at him before moving forwards to stay in front of the machine control panel. He took a deep breath to ease his own uncertainties and eventually pushed the start button in front of the other's worried stares.

Gwen hold up to Rhys and Donna to Shaun as Jack slowly walked back to stand in between his lover and the Doctor.

The metal chamber, which looked like an elevator mixed up with a fitting room, filled the entire hub with screeching noises, until finally the six lights on the control panel lighted up one after the other and they all began changing their colour from yellow to red, making the noise increase exponentially.

When the sound seemed too high for them to keep staying inside the hub with the infernal machine, finally the device gave a last loud cry and the insides of the chamber lit up for a split second. All things considered, the whole charge up didn't last more than a minute before everything went dead again.

As Jack rushed back towards the machine to open the door, the sonic screwdriver gave a weak beep inside the Doctor's pocket, barely noticed by the others, who were still a bit confused by all the clamour. When he searched inside, he found along with his beloved screwdriver two small cubes with enclosed inside a dark orb that looked eerily like an eyeball. As he put on his 3D eyeglasses, he could see that both of them were glowing violet.

He looked over the chamber, staring at the two ghosts that were coming out from there, a little bit shaken and a somehow less ghost-like. A sudden idea popped in his mind and with a wide grin he threw at them the cubes, one each. As soon as Toshiko and Owen caught them, in front of everyone's shocked stares they suddenly appeared in colour, exactly the way they used to be. The now worn out grey cubes fell from their hands to the ground with a loud ' _thump_ ' and only then the Doctor disposed of his glasses.

The two Torchwood employees stared at one another and took a few tentative steps forwards, surprised to not be fluctuating anymore. As Jack tried to reach for them though, he simply passed through them as if they were thin air just like before.

"Doctor, what does this mean?" The captain asked panicked. "Have we done it wrong?"

All the stares where now on him, but the Time Lord just smiled calmly. "Oh, no no! Everything's working how it was supposed to be! Their bodies are just getting to them atom by atom. The only problem here is that recomposing them fully could actually take  _a bit_  of time."

"What does it mean  _recomposing_?" Jack argued. " _A bit_  of time!? Can't we hasten it up?"

"Of course we could, but we would need to know where the bodies are located … And I haven't the slightest clue on how to get the right coordinates without even the tiniest hint of  _how_  all of this happened and  _when_ "

"So, we're stuck?" Owen snarled.

"No!" The Doctor tried to explain seriously. "You're  _slowly regaining consistency_."

"Well, look at the good side of things" Donna tried to cheer them up. "Now you will be able to go to the partnership ceremony without having everyone screaming ' _Ghosts!_ ' everywhere."

"Of course,  _My Lady_ " Owen told her sarcastically. "Unless they walk right through us! I can't believe I ended up in a even worse situation than last time!"

Owen finished his speech glaring at Jack, who conveniently looked away from him ashamed at the reminder. Toshiko, on the other hand, was simply smiling optimistically at the whole scenario.

"I think she's right Owen. It's only momentary after all, we can get a few researches going to hasten it up in the meantime. I already feel more solid, so the Doctor must be right… It's actually working. Just slowly"

"Yeah, I'm sure we have something to use in case of a-temporal tracings…" Ianto said thoughtfully. "Jack, could you please come with me in the archives? The ones we reach from your office"

"Hu huuu, Ianto Jones. Just you and me in the archives…" Jack teased his lover with leer as the leaped happily after him. Ianto simply rolled his eyes and tried to keep his focus on the most urgent matter at hand.

As they disappeared upstairs, the rift alarm beeped again and Gwen rushed to her computer, took note of the location and then headed for the door followed by Rhys.

"I'll get this sorted in a couple of hours. See ya!" She yelled at the rest of the team as she disappeared outside.

Donna, then, just stared at Tosh with a smile. "I'm sure you already have something in mind?"

The Japanese technician answered her with a gracious nod, so both of them took position in front of one of the computers, Donna quickly typing in everything Toshiko suggested. Owen sighed at his friend's positive acceptance of things and then snapped his fingers to gestured at Shaun to follow him down the medical bay, in order to do a couple more tests to verify the Doctor's thesis.

The Doctor stared amazed seeing Torchwood in action, until he finally decided to join the fun and, disregarding what his brain told him, first of all he leaped after Jack and Ianto, since he was too curious to know what the toy boy would take out of that magic box that seemed to be the Torchwood archives. Then, in order, he planned to spy also on his Donna and the  _now-not-so-ghostly_  genius, before having a look also at the experiments of the small scrawny medic.

He was happy to see with his eyes that Jack was actually telling the truth when he had said that his Torchwood was different despite it having inside his ranks also people and devices from the less amicable London. If only he had trusted Jack better, he would have seen all of this ages before, so that even his previous self would have realized how brilliant they were, despite his dislike for Jack's unorthodox existence.

Thinking back at who he had been, however, lead him to worry about who he would be and how everything could change once again.

He didn't know how much time this incarnation had left, but he couldn't trust his future self to cherish properly his friends after what had happened with his past one. Moreover, he had already lost too much time moping because of his mistakes instead of acting and this  _had_  to stop.  _He_  was with them right now, there was no need to lose himself again in too much overthinking.

He would not stop his future self from enjoying his friends' friendship, but this moment was for  _him_  to enjoy in all its small details, from the reproaches to Jack for too much flirting to the happy banters with Donna and the clever solace that debates with Martha would bring. Not to mention that he had now even more friends, considering how he had made peace with Torchwood and that all his former companions had made their own families share the duties he had accidentally inflicted on them.

He would do all he could to enjoy the friendship of people he'd thought lost in the seas of guilt, and especially... to have some well deserved fun.

 

* * *

 

 

The whole Torchwood team plus the Doctor found themself working until it had become a so late hour that the Time Lord himself had to send everyone to bed by force, especially Jack and Ianto, who despite being immortals were supposed to have a long day in front of them.

However, as he made it to his T.A.R.D.I.S. to have a nice night of sleep, he remembered that the first time he had met Jack he had been a con-man, so he turned on his heels and went back to the hub to check on his friend and his  _plus one_ , taking over one of the spare beds. He lost a good amount of time bouncing on it to try the springs, but then eventually he fell soundly asleep.

When all was once again quiet in the interrogation room where the Doctor had taken a bed to sleep along with the two immortals, Jack and Ianto put aside the duvets, stood back on their feet and stared dubiously at the sleeping alien.

"You reckon he will find us missing?" Ianto asked quietly to his lover.

"No chance, everything considered" Jack answered back, and then turned to stare at his lover seriously. "Let's go back to the archives, I need to talk to you"

Ianto took his chance to raise a dubious eyebrow at his boyfriend, but Jack had already turned his back to him to make his way out of the interrogation room. Ianto eventually just shook his head and followed his lover, throwing a last glance at the still asleep Doctor before closing the door behind himself.

When he finally joined Jack back in the archives, his lover was waiting for him sitting on Ianto's desk. Jack patted the wooden surface beside him to encourage Ianto to sit right next to him and then observed his lover's every move as he accomplished the task.

"Can't believe all this will be certified as mine in less than twelve hours" Jack murmured, partially to himself and partially to Ianto. A soft smile adorned his lips and his eyes stared almost adoringly at his lover.

"Like it wouldn't have been the same even without us being legal" Ianto teased, smirking as he half closed his eyes that were still looking in front of himself instead of Jack.

"Yeah… But it's the night before our  _marriage_  and the Doctor wants to keep an eye on us…" Jack countered, leaning dangerously in Ianto's personal space. "We can't even fool around during our last night as free men"

Ianto chuckled at Jack's antics and shook his head at his hopeless boyfriend. "I thought you wanted to speak about work some more, not molest me in my archives"

"It's not like we can do something about it at the moment" Jack argued, eyeing his lover attentively as Ianto simply nodded, apparently unwilling to say something more on the matter.

"We're just half-way through the ghosts problem" Jack admitted unsurely, trying to guess what was crossing Ianto's mind. "If you want to stop this-"

"It's fine, Jack" Ianto interrupted him, finally staring back at his lover. "I don't need it perfect, I honestly just need you by my side"

"You forgive me too many things" Jack countered, averting his eyes from Ianto. "I'm quite too much egoistic"

"I don't mind you like that" Ianto teased, descending from the edge of table to face Jack properly. His eyes now had a way more teasing glint twinkling in them. "Your egoism brought me some of my best orgasms"

Jack laughed at Ianto's teasing, despite the soft blush of embarrassment lurking on his cheeks. More than  _his egoism_ , Jack had to admit that it was the young Welshman too good giving him ideas that he  _egoistically_  couldn't keep to himself. Was that a threesome, public sex, spanking, bondage or everything else that came to his mind, Jack honestly couldn't take  _no_  as an answer from Ianto. And Ianto, eventually, after a little bit of probing, always capitulated.

"Is that what you are after, tying up the knots with me?" Jack teased with leer. "Me giving you orgasms?"

"Not just that" Ianto answered seductively, leaning towards Jack to tease his neck with his lips. "But that's quite the incentive"

Jack relaxed under Ianto's gentle teasing, closing his eyes to savour the feeling better.

That's how he was completely caught by surprise when he heard a metallic click resounding inside the silent archives and felt cold steel around his wrists.

"Ianto?" He called, feeling his lover taking some distance from him to admire his work. "What does this mean?"

Jack showed him angrily his cuffed wrists, loudly demanding explanations from his lover. The chain between the two bracelets now adorning Jack's wrists was way longer than the usual, sign that the Welshman didn't just use the pair he kept on him in case of a weevil attack, but had deliberately planned whatever they were about to do. Despite his initial attempt to make Jack feeling guilt about trying to get in his pants the night before their partnership.

"They look good on you" Ianto answered with mirth, as he quickly freed his desk from any stuff he had forgotten there before. Then, he simply took the middle of the chain linking his lover's cuffs in his hand staring at Jack. "You're in the mood to play?"

Jack simply smirked at his lover, relaxing his arms enough to allow Ianto to manhandle him as much as he wanted. "Bring it on, Ianto Jones"

Ianto welcomed Jack's answer with a satisfied smile, and then motioned for his lover to move to sit on the shortest edge of the desk. As he gladly complied, Ianto never left the chain of Jack's cuffs. As soon as he was in position, Ianto used his free hand to sustain Jack's back as he carefully made him lying long over the desk and he could stretch his arms over his head until he could secure the middle of the chain to a small hook beneath the other small end of his desk.

Ianto then proceeded to remove Jack's night wear with slow and maniacal precision, slightly displeased that Jack wore very little clothing when in his sleep attire.

When Ianto had finished undressing him, Jack tested the chains, amused that they were long enough to still grant him a discreet mobility and short enough to bind him where his lover wanted him to be.

"Am I the first you chain to your desk in the archives?" Jack teased, earning Ianto's scoff for it.

"I spend most of my day in the archives" Ianto explained. "If I find something interesting I just store it for later use"

"This doesn't look like alien tech" Jack complained, wriggling his wrists to Ianto.

Ianto just smirked at him and opened one of the drawers of his desk to extract a beetle-like object, apparently made of some kind of dark metal. With extreme nonchalance, he threw it on Jack's naked chest.

"This is, though" He stated plainly. "I forgot I had it laying around, it came out during the rummage in the archives we did today. Since you're in the mood, no better time like today to try it out together"

"I'm not much into insects, Ianto" Jack protested uncertain, eyeing with distrust the weird object on him.

"I would have never guessed that something wasn't your thing" Ianto teased, as he took out some sort of small remote. "This is not it, however, don't worry"

As Ianto clicked a small red button on the remote, the tiny extremities of the beetle began to wriggle, tickling Jack lightly. Then, all of sudden, they got longer and, as they moved irregularly and sinuously over Jack's tanned skin, they began to tease way more than tickle. Considering how they were moving and how long they were, the beetle limbs now looked more like tiny black snakes of metal linked together at their tails.

"Bloody hell" Jack breathed out, as the continuous movement of the tiny snakes on his chest was becoming far too difficult to bear.

The cold metal was chilly over his warm skin and, if he didn't know better, he would say that the tiny snakes were trying to brush over his nipples and his most erogenous zones with purpose.

Soon Jack began to tremble and squirm on Ianto's desk, under the teasing ministrations of the cold device and the attentive stare of his lover.

"Ianto?" Jack managed to ask eventually, turning to look at his lover only to find him staring at him naked, as he was fondling his own cock. "What is this?"

"You're beautiful" Ianto answered instead, palming harder his groin. "I never have the chance to watch you properly when I bring you pleasure"

Jack felt himself smirk at Ianto's words: he was the one harassed by the metal snakes, but it looked like that he didn't even need an alien device to turn his boyfriend on.

"You should join" Jack offered with a soft and mellow voice meant to convince Ianto.

Despite how much he seemed to like just staring at his lover, Ianto actually moved closer to Jack, between his spread legs, taking his time to massage them up to Jack's hips to compensate the lack of attention that the lower part of his lover's body had had until then.

"You still haven't seen the beauty of this device" Ianto told Jack, keeping on his massage on Jack's sides even though his voice betrayed his impatience to just have his way with his lover.

"What's this, Ian?" Jack tried once again, earning only a smart smirk as an answer.

"You'll see" Ianto answered, and then simply put his hand on the device.

Jack could immediately feel the difference: the cold tiny metal snakes turned warmer, and they now didn't just wriggle randomly over his chest, but intentionally followed their own agenda in arousing Jack. Of the six little snakes, two went for his nipples, encircling them before brushing over and tease the top with their tiniest extremity only to encircle them again.

One more, ventured upwards to Jack's neck, slithering around it, brushing over the most sensitive part of his ear and then caress Jack's lips in an almost fleeting kiss. As the tip of the tiny snake teased and probed his lips, Jack took out his tongue to lick it, and found it smooth as much as tasteless.

Two more went straight to his sides to resume the massage Ianto had forego to touch the device with his same pressure and rhythm, sometimes even venturing lower than Ianto had done to almost unintentionally tease his groin area, left untouched until now despite his hardening cock.

The last one didn't have the same qualms of its other companions, as it went straight for Jack's cock, teasing the slit with its tiniest bit as it crawled up his whole length to almost form a spiral cock ring.

When all the snakes had reached every place they were meant to, Ianto finally leaned over his lover, still without taking away his hand from the device on Jack's chest. As he kissed Jack deep and hard, the snake retreated to tease only his ear and neck, but as Ianto followed their sinuous curves to reach down to tease by himself Jack's nipples, it moved back to poke at Jack's lips, making him all too willing to just stick out his tongue again to provoke the little tease.

When Ianto moved down to his nipples, though, Jack's thoughts lost the better part of their coherency, as the arousing strokes of his lover's tongue on him and the two snakes still harassing him seemed to work in perfect symbiosis to give him pleasure. He was so lost in the sensation that he didn't notice Ianto's finger, slicked with lube, press against his opening to stretch him properly.

Only when Ianto had managed to add a third finger Jack became actually aware of his lover's plans on him and, truth to be told, only because Ianto, in order to move down Jack's belly in his way to tease his cock with his mouth and tongue, had made the still open tube of lube fall noisily on the floor. At least this explained to Jack's desire clouded mind how the hell Ianto had managed to oil his fingers properly to stretch him with only one hand at his disposal.

Jack's moment of reason faded as soon as Ianto took Jack's cock whole into his mouth with the snake cock ring still in place. The sensation was so weird, unusual and arousing that all Jack could do was call out his lover's name and hope that it didn't resound inside the silent hub too much, waking up the others.

When Ianto was sure that Jack was ready enough, he let his cock slip out of his mouth and straightened up once again to kiss Jack deeply on his lips.

"I need a moment to prepare" Ianto announced to Jack's ear as they parted, his deep Welsh vowels sounding even deeper than usual.

Before Jack could ask what his lover meant, he saw Ianto taking his hand away from over the alien device on his chest and the snakes laying still on him right afterwards. He had no time to stare fascinated at the mechanics of the alien tech, that his eyes moved back up to stare at Ianto, who had retrieved the lube from the floor along with a condom. Jack kept his eyes on his lover as he rolled over himself the condom and then applied a generous amount of lube, realizing how a pity it was that Ianto hadn't tried to follow through the whole preparation single-handedly. It would have been certainly fun to watch, even though in their aroused state it would have also been certainly annoying in the long run.

Satisfied with the amount of lubrication, Ianto leaned once again over his lover and once again pressed his hand over the alien device, as he positioned the tip of his cock at the entrance of Jack's hole. As soon as his hand was back on it, the snakes reactivated, and with renewed vigour went back to their task to tease and arouse Jack over the limit of madness.

As he was certain that the snakes had teased Jack enough, Ianto eventually penetrated Jack, sheathing himself full inside his lover. The movement took Jack by surprise, so Ianto left him some time more to adjust before starting to trust inside him in earnest.

Jack, on his hand, couldn't even understand what gave him the most pleasure anymore: Ianto's cock was pounding inside his ass, hitting his prostate with almost technical precision, while all over him warm snakes teased him and made his skin tingle with pleasure and need like only his lover knew how to do. It was like having several Ianto all working on him at once.

When he was about to come, Jack felt himself restricted by the snake still teasing his cock, though, and groaned his disappointment, managing to catch Ianto's attention.

"Ianto" Jack moaned desperately, hoping that his lover understood what was bringing him dissatisfaction.

Ianto leaned over Jack to kiss away his frown, but at the same time he moved his free hand on Jack's cock, taking the snake's place to arouse him further. Ianto's warm and soft hand on him was all Jack needed to come and so he did, splashing over himself and the wriggling snakes. Ianto took his hand away from the device to not tease Jack further and then came soon after inside him, holding close to his lover like his life depended on it.

When both of them came down from their high, Ianto slowly slipped out of Jack to remove the condom and throw it away, and then proceeded to free Jack from his bindings.

"Did it hurt?" Ianto asked eventually, sincerely worried as he opened the cuffs and unhooked the chain from below the table.

"Perfectly fine" Jack reassured him, sitting up with some difficulty to massage a bit his strained wrists. "What was that thing again? Looked like a proper alien sex toy to me"

"Because it was" Ianto admitted, blushing deeply as he put away his things back in the drawer and went to retrieve a piece of cloth to clean Jack up a bit. "I had quite an encounter alone with that thing before I understood how it worked. Don't ask me a report on it, however, I'm not going to write one"

Jack rose an enquiring eyebrow at his lover, honestly shocked by the revelation. "An encounter on your own with that thing? During working hours?"

"Afterhours" Ianto pointed out frowning. "I meant to put it away and I activated it by chance"

"Now I want to see it"

Ianto just shook his head at his boyfriend's interest in him molested by the beetle, but eventually just proceeded to clean up Jack a bit before handing him back his clothes. Then he took his owns and put on only what was strictly necessary to appear presentable in case someone was going to the bathroom or something like that.

"Now is not an option" Ianto reprimanded. "We need to take a shower and to go back to bed. Despite how much it pains me to admit it, the Doctor was right: tomorrow will be hard on us"

"I will certainly be hard on you, thinking about what you told me just now" Jack countered, chuckling happily as he stood on his feet to follow Ianto out of the archives.

Ianto just rolled his eyes and let the door open for his lover as they sneaked back inside the darkness of the main hub. Their night seemed certainly far from its end.

 

* * *

 

 

The day after, strangely began more or less like Jack and Ianto had programmed the morning after Jack's proposal.

As soon as they were awake, they run back at their flat to change in two more appropriate tuxedos and, on their way back to the hub, the captain checked more than once with UNIT that everything was fine or if they were sure they could handle any kind of emergency by themselves for at least four hours straight.

UNIT, that after the recent black-out events had been subdued like a guilty kitten for several days, had eventually decided to maintain their promises and actually side with Torchwood. To show their actual good will, they also took back the objection to Jack and Ianto civil partnership that they had issued as soon as the couple had given notice of their wedding to the authorities. Officially, everything was only in the name of their common ' _friendship'_  with the Doctor, but the whole Torchwood guessed it was because they had eventually had enough of Ianto's paperwork and Donna's yells.

When they got back to base, they found that everyone had already left to get dressed at their respective homes, except the Doctor and the two  _not-so-much-ghostly-anymore_  Toshiko and Owen. Ianto looked over the Time Lord from head to toes as he took in the ridiculous fez and white dotted orange bow-tie that changed the Doctor's ordinary look. Also Jack had to grimace at the obscene attire his friend was sporting, as he checked him out, crossing his arms over his chest.

"So not going to happen, Doctor." Jack stated eventually, his face a mask of total disgust.

"What? I took out my best outfit!"

The two boyfriends glared at him and dragged him back forcefully inside the T.A.R.D.I.S., where Ianto rummaged inside the wardrobe enough to finally find something he considered decent enough for the ceremony and, with Jack's help, forced the Doctor inside it. Once they deemed him acceptable, they brought him back to the hub to check the last things and be certain that they had forgotten nothing.

As they made it through one of Ianto's lists, the Doctor kept moping in a corner of the hub about the beauty of fezzes and dotted bow-ties as Toshiko kindly tried to comfort him.

"We should wait on ground level…" Ianto said in the end, his voice thick with nerves.

"Oh c'mon, tea boy." Owen drawled annoyed. "You have still a whole hour and the Millennium is just outside the door"

"It says to be there at least 30 minutes before, Owen." Ianto replied, failing to give his voice the usual snapping intonation he reserved for the medic.

"Now now" Jack tried to calm them down. "Owen's right, you don't need to fret right now, there's still at least half an hour before that"

"However" The captain added, turning to stare expectantly at Toshiko and Owen. "I think it would be a good idea try out your disguise with a little bit of leave"

"Well, it should be safe enough." Toshiko said, smiling awkwardly. "We only have to get through the ceremony anyway."

"I'm still hoping a miracle will happen and you get tangible before the banquet" Ianto stated, staring at Toshiko unsurely.

"You always hope for the impossible, don't you Ianto?" She reprimanded him, smiling warmly.

"It gave me him" Ianto countered with an embarrassed laugh, nodding towards Jack.

"Well, let me put a little bit of truth in this absurd parade, then." Owen butted in unnerved. "We won't make it to the banquet, but you won't make it late for your partnership either. So, grab your coat and let's get going… Or go out there like that and freeze to death, for how much I care"

Jack and Ianto simply smiled at him, the light blush on Owen's cheeks and the way he tried to not meet their eyes being too much of a give in to believe him.

"Owen, is the 20th of September" Jack stated amused.

Owen simply scoffed and walked towards the cog door, waiting for the others to approach him to get it open.

"So, what?" He said heatedly, as he saw the others just staring at him. "Are you planning to describe me how much changed Cardiff weather over these six years or you prefer to get married, partnershipped or whatever it is with that tea boy of yours?"

Toshiko, the Doctor and two very smirking Jack and Ianto soon joined him by the cog door, allowing it to open. As Jack passed by Owen, he winked at him, smiling widely. "You're in for a big hug as soon as you get your body back. Prepare yourself for it"

Owen grimaced, trying to hide the small smile that was forming on his lips despite his will and followed the group outside. As they made their way to the Millennium centre, Owen and Toshiko gaped at the small but significant differences around them. They had buried themselves in research and work all the time just to keep this moment as further in time as they could, but now that they were there and had to confront with the prospect of a new life ahead of them, they didn't really know what to make of all of this.

Ianto was right, it was going to be hard, but if some weird destiny had given them another chance on this Earth they couldn't let it go, not when their friends had worked so hard for it.

Owen already had to face a similar situation, but with the pros of having been dead for less than 24hours and the cons of ending up deprived of a good part of what made him human. This time it would be different. He was going to be a proper human again, and after all he had to confront with when he was nothing more than a zombie, he couldn't really stop looking forward to something better.

**T.B.C.**

 


	12. Matter of tag

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

 

Jack and Ianto waited patiently in front of the entrance of the Millennium Centre as they chatted up the staff that was supposed to attend to them and welcomed their guests. They did not want to make it a big affair, but along with family and close friends there were still people that they  _had_  to invite, just like the infamous UNIT General, much to the Doctor's amusement. The Queen had received a similar invite more out of courtesy and deference than for actual hope that she could attend, however, she had sent Lois as her substitute, knowing how much the girl would have enjoyed to meet again the team she had tried to help with all her might during the infamous children's ordeal.

When they still had only forty minutes to wait for the beginning of their ceremony, what everyone had feared actually happened.

All of sudden, Jack's, Lois' and the UNIT General's mobiles all began ringing together and, before they had time to answer, also Jack's wrist-strap echoed its alarm.

Ianto and Gwen took the hassle in their hands, leading guests, caretakers and innocent bystanders inside the building with some made up excuse, so Donna could smartly close them inside. Eventually, on the Plass remained only the Torchwood team plus the UNIT General, Martha and the Doctor, since Mickey had been sent inside in case of a breach through along with Lois, who would properly inform him too of what was happening once she managed to finish her call with the Queen's Watchers.

Jack eventually clicked the red button of his mobile on UNIT and, annoyed at the strange turn of the events, took out his gun, followed soon by all the others, who took position at the sides of the door of the Millennium Centre to protect the civilians in case of a sudden attack.

"Jack, what's happening?" Gwen yelled at him. "We look like bloody  _Men In Black_  like this"

The Captain serious expression melted away for a moment, noticing the weird but still dapper attire his team showed to the world with their guns in their hands while the men were dressed in elegant tuxedos and the women with long colourful dresses, hopefully provided with slits long enough to grant them easy movement in case of an emergency. And to add humour to the scenario,  _Men In Black_  was exactly what they were since they were actually supposed to catch aliens.

He found it hard to contain his mirth, but eventually he managed to keep himself in check enough to focus on the matter at hand and explain what the problem was to his team.

"The alien that got loose from the hub during the blackout is back and it's flying in this direction. UNIT can't find a way to stop it. Moreover, even though they had put their best researchers on the case they have no idea of what it is in the first place, therefore we still have no idea about how to deal with it"

"So what are you going to do? Take it down?" The Doctor said angrily as he checked them for answers, eyeing suspiciously the Torchwood team's worried faces.

"Of course!" The UNIT General stated, earning all the other's glares on himself. "It has been going around freely for days and now it must be hungry. It is quite obvious it's heading back to seek vengeance as much as food!"

"It's vegetarian actually." Ianto protested, getting everyone's widened eyes back on him. "What? It is! I even sent the feeding report to UNIT when it escaped. I gave it a vast sort of food to choose from in the beginning, and it never touched any kind of meat."

"Ianto's right." Gwen supported him. "Besides when I caught it the first time it wasn't aggressive, we had it on with only a tranquilizer gun and it never tried to attack me. It seemed just tired and scared"

"So… It's vegetarian, supposedly friendly and can fly." The Doctor summarized. "This narrows it down, but it's still not enough to understand what it is"

"Our protocol is usually to try and keep the aliens alive so that we can observe them and their behaviour" Toshiko explained tiredly from the background, earning the Time Lord's doubtful risen eyebrow. "We treat them well, so the results can be closer to the truth. Unfortunately, when Gwen brought that one at the hub, we were so busy with building the chamber that we could do nothing more than just feeding it"

"And that's the toy boy's assignment, isn't it?" The Doctor asked Ianto, who grimaced at the nickname but nodded. "Do you remember anything peculiar?"

"He seemed getting better?" Ianto offered evenly.

"What!?" All the other asked at unison, actually worrying the Welshman a bit.

"Well it seemed happier to me as the days passed by. Its stomach stopped making those starved noises and it always ate everything with gusto. Sometime he let out some noises that felt like he was trying to thank me, like a purr of some sort"

"That's what it wants!" The Doctor said, his eyes lighting up as he had the sudden epiphany. "He's coming back, because it wants  _you_  to feed it again! I don't know why, but it took you on its good side, toy!"

As Ianto rolled his eyes at the worsening path that his nicknames were following, Jack on the other hand was mentally considering a couple of different plans to set in order. Eventually, he settled on the one that seemed more practical, deciding he had better to take the lead soon before the Doctor or the General took over his team and UNIT.

"Right. Then... Ianto, go get as much vegetables as you can. Donna, please go with Shaun and Rhys and take all the tranquilizers and nets you can find inside the hub and bring them here. In the meanwhile we'll keep it occupied."

Jack waited for his squad to follow his orders and then turned worried at the Doctor. "You're absolutely sure this is it, aren't you? That it's just hungry and friendly."

The Time Lord simply looked at him, his mouth hanging open and his eyes blinking. "Well, I hope I'm sure"

The Captain rolled his eyes and looked around the Plass at the small crowd of curious people gathering.

"We need to do something about this… Gwen! Call Andy, I need the police to close off the area!"

Gwen swallowed unsure, but began dialing the number anyway. The Doctor looked at her with a risen eyebrow and then stared back at Jack. "Andy… Isn't he the blond man who was at your party and that's currently calling you on daily basis saying: ' _The_ _hub was gorgeous, the party was gorgeous, Torchwood is gorgeous! Can I join, pleeeeeeease?_ '"

Jack stifled a laugh at the perfect impression of Andy the Doctor had made and nodded. "Unfortunately, if he really wants to help, I need him exactly where he is. No matter how much he keeps bothering both me and Gwen about joining. Not gonna happen"

"I still think we should go for killing it, we don't know how dangerous that thing can be!" The General butted in, looking gloomy at feeling ignored and overpowered. "My men couldn't get it, it was too fast! It's a matter of who's going to survive and I know that also Torchwood has rules to follow when it's a matter of kill or get killed!"

"It's starving right now!" The Doctor argued back angrily. "It's not dangerous!"

"Now you tell me that something hungry isn't dangerous." The General retorted with a snort.

"I think you should use your cute little soldiers to help the police secure the area" Jack cut in the banter, smiling with charm as he walked in between the two glaring men. The General valued the Captain's proposition and then got his mobile out again to call the order, whilst the Doctor took extreme satisfaction in sticking out his tongue at the UNIT man as soon as he had turned his back to him.

Martha and Gwen joined Jack and the Doctor not too much after, looking quite worried.

"Jack, what are we going to do if that alien comes here before Donna and Ianto?" Martha said. "I don't want to agree with the General, but we can't just stay here and play  _catch me_!"

"Why not?" The Doctor argued enthusiastically. "I think it's a great idea, good one Martha!"

The two girls stared at him shocked, whilst Jack actually thought seriously about her involuntary suggestion.

"Well, that might be fun" He admitted eventually and more than just a bit unsurely, earning he himself three surprised stares on him.

"Jack, that thing is fast!" Gwen pointed out, glaring at her insecure boss.

"You said yourself that it didn't look that bad the first time" Jack countered plainly, swallowing down his doubts.

"Well,  _back then_! What do we know about  _now_!?"

"We're going to discover it soon, friends…" Martha muttered stunned as she pointed to the sky and they all could see something similar to a green jelly horned pterodactyl with too many wings came flying full speed towards them.

The small assembly split, Gwen and Martha rushing to the right while Jack and the Doctor headed for the left, and therefore leaving the alien free room to plane in the free space in between the two groups.

It stopped there, floating in mid-air and staring puzzled at the people sprawled at its two sides. Then he let out a sound similar to the croaking of a frog and flew up again, looking down at them sincerely disappointed. It began flying in circles around the Millennium centre, croaking steadily and bringing a small crowd to gather around the Plass, despite all the efforts of UNIT and the Police to contain them away from the danger.

"Interesting…" The Doctor mumbled awestruck, as he squinted his eyes to focus on the alien. "I wonder what's waiting for…"

"Doctor, I think the main problem here is how to make it move back down ground level" Jack pointed out, nervousness clear in his words. "Stun-guns and tranquilizers are  _short range_  weapons"

As if on cue, Donna, Rhys and Shaun chose that precise moment to come back with the weapons and the nets required, only to look up and sigh as they noticed the catch in the situation as well.

"Harkness, where the hell did Jones hid himself!?" The General yelled at Jack, somewhat unsure about deliberately disobeying the Doctor. "We could at least use the food as a distraction or better as a lure!"

Jack raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's Sunday morning and he's searching for vegetables." Jack stated like it was the most obvious reason of the world for Ianto being late.

"Oh, please, you're telling me that you don't have a single bloody carrot in your fridge!?"

Somehow, looking at the Torchwood Captain, the General could easily guess that not only they hadn't, but also that the mere idea of them having vegetables around was insane.

"Never managed to get Ianto eat healthy." Jack pointed out shrugging, while Gwen looked away guiltily realizing that she was in no better position than Ianto was.

"Oooooyyy! We're heeere!" The Doctor screamed, weaving at the alien. "You want to plaaay?"

"This is going to end in tears" Martha muttered, shaking her head at her friend's brilliant idea.

Everyone else simply stared worriedly alternatively at the jelly pterodactyl and at the Time Lord. The flying alien looked curiously at the Doctor too, until it eventually planned again towards him, slowed down a bit until it was barely few inches from him, gave him a small push with one of its wobbly rounded wing -throwing him few feet away right in Donna's ready arms- and then flew up again croaking hysterically.

While the others were busy assuring themselves that the Doctor was indeed as fine as he seemed, Jack and the General stared at the whole scene with the same disturbed expression on their face.

"You're not trying to tell me it wants to play tags" The Captain said eventually.

"That or some more childish game like  _I push you and snigger at you while you cry_." The General offered plainly, earning plain glares from the three mothers of the group.

"That's kids being cruel with one another, it's no game!" Gwen yelled at him in anger.

"Let's focus on the alien!" Jack cut the banter before it could begin, only to roll his eyes at the Doctor's whine few seconds after. "The  _flying_  one."

"We could keep doing what the Doctor has done until Ianto arrives with the food" Toshiko proposed, finally managing to approach Jack despite her laboured breath. "We're all adults, it won't hurt us much"

"Great idea Tosh!" He congratulated her for the suggestion, but his next words died on his lips as he turned at her and could do nothing more than to take in her pale complexion and tired expression. Owen, right behind her, didn't look in better conditions. "What's happening to you guys?"

"We're fine" She reassured him, not looking fine at all. "It' just… This whole recomposing process is draining…"

"…And weird" Owen added, holding a hand over a bleeding scorch on his arm. "We are still see-through, but we get hurt nevertheless. If that thing gets us like it did with your Doctor, we're dead once again and for all"

"Perfect." Jack cursed on the verge of desperation as he tried to think of a solution. "Rhys, Shaun! Guard Tosh and Owen, but don't touch them. You two, get as far as you can get from here!"

"Why can't we escort them inside?" Shaun proposed hopeful, but Jack simply shook his head.

"Look inside the Millennium, everyone moved towards the doors, hoping to escape or to see what's happening here. There's no chance we can let them pass through that mess unscathed . Try to lead them back in the direction of the hub"

The four people did their best to slowly get away, while all the others tried to reply the Doctor's successful trick. The flying alien hopefully reacted as predicted, and Martha found it rather amusing seeing her superior officer giving all he could in the game of tag.

As the game went on, however, the creature seemed to get a little bit uneasy. Just like all the kids, the game was fun as long as they didn't get tired of it, proof was that the Doctor himself had lost his initial childish enthusiasm.

Still, as they saw Ianto approaching with huge shopping bags full of vegetables, they all relaxed and thanked all the Gods they knew, as they quickly scrambled to get the nets and the un-harmful weapons. The flying alien must have sensed the change in the game too, because it began making even bigger circles in the air and croaking even louder in excitement.

Giving credit to the Doctor's logic, once the airborne menace eyed Ianto and the food, it flew down at top speed only to stop few inches from the Welshman and change trajectory, knocking down in the process Rhys and Shaun, who still hadn't made it far enough from the Plass because of Owen and Toshiko's worsening conditions.

"That's no good, it's coming back again!" Jack cried out. "Can't we make it hungry and depressed again!?"

The Doctor in the meantime was pacing randomly on the same spot, trying to concentrate in order to find a feasible solution, but nothing was coming to his mind. Jack's words shocked him out from his deep concentration as he noticed the alien coming down to reply his joyful tour... This time, however, there wouldn't be the two other men protecting Toshiko and Owen and the Captain's ex-ghosted comrades hadn't enough weight at the moment to simply fell over like the others did.

It would crash on them, hurting them badly even though the alien was only playing. It wouldn't be good hurting it... Still, it was too fast and too unpredictable for nets and short range weapons at the moment. There had to be a solution… If only he could give them a complete body…

In the meantime the General was thinking along the Doctor's line of thoughts, but had already made his decision and was currently pointing his gun at the flying alien, whilst Jack and Gwen were desperately trying to put themselves in between the creature and their friends. They managed it just in time, which sent them knocked out few feet away, along with Donna and Martha who were trying to trap it with the nets. Also Ianto, who was trying to actually give it what it wanted, fell victim again of the gusts of wind generated by the winged fiend.

Eventually, as it prepared itself for another fly down on them, they could only guess that the alien wanted the entire collection down before taking what it was looking for from Ianto. In the panicked silence that followed, the Doctor could only clearly feel the clicking of the General's gun as the man got ready to shoot.

"You won't stop me Doctor" The soldier said determinedly, feeling the Time Lord's stare on him.

The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment, wishing for a miracle to happen or an idea to pop in his mind. Then, it actually happened, in the form of a loud beep coming from his screwdriver.

"Everyone down!" He cried out to Martha and the Torchwood team, who were doing their best to get back on their feet to help their friends and stop the flying alien as much as the General.

Suddenly, the Doctor pointed his screwdriver at Toshiko and Owen and hit both of them with a shining violet laser that left them alone right before the creature flew close enough to them to make them tumble few feet away, where they were rescued by the caring hands of Gwen and Donna.

Both girls stared down at their teammates, both shocked and extremely happy that they could finally grab them properly, without passing through their bodies and hurting them.

"It worked" Gwen muttered as her eyes began watering staring at Toshiko's surprised ones. "Oh, my God, Tosh! You're back! You're wholly back!"

She held her friend tight, fearing that she would magically disappear in front of her eyes.

Now finally satisfied with its way to thank everyone, the jelly pterodactyl landed graciously next to Ianto and began nudging him with its head to get its food. Shaun and Rhys, who already had their eyes watering seeing how both of the two ex-ghosts were fine, took over the pet-sitting role that usually was Ianto's and with the newly bought vegetables tried their best to lure the alien inside the hub, where it could rest and eat in peace.

As soon as Ianto was released from the duty to feed his alien fan, Jack joined him, wrapping a protective arm around his shoulders and dragging him close to his chest as his lover started crying in joy.

"Ianto?" Toshiko called for him eventually, once she had freed herself from Gwen and Martha's embraces.

The two best friends stared at one another for a while, before Toshiko took enough courage to run to him and jump in his arms, finding Ianto ready to catch her and spin her around in joy. Jack took a few steps backwards to leave them enough space, until they finally decided they had cried enough on one another and separated with an awkward laugh.

"We're happy to have you back, Toshiko Sato" Jack told her, with a seductive smile on his lips.

She simply shook her head at his antics and hugged him too, smiling widely.

"My, it's still so cold…" She commented as soon as she had to let Jack go.

Ianto put a friendly hand on her shoulders and tried his best to smile at her. "You've been dead for a lot of time, that's to be expected. You will get better, believe me"

"You will have us loving stallions to warm you up in the meantime, if you wish" Jack chirped with a wink and a so wicked smile on his lips that made Ianto roll his eyes and everyone else snigger in amusement.

After having finished his own round of hugs and welcome-backs from the others, finally also Owen gathered enough courage to walk embarrassed towards Jack and Ianto. Without any words necessary between the two of them, he was pulled in a vigorous hug from his captain, who didn't fail to remember how he was just fulfilling his promise from before to hug him as soon as he was solid again.

Once they pulled away, the medic only had to confront with his nemesis. Owen and Ianto stared at one another awkwardly for a long time, the ghost of a smile on their lips but none of them ready to take the first step towards the other.

"It will be good making you coffee again, I was missing the only times you actually appreciated what I did" Ianto greeted him back plainly, trying to muster a more sincere smile as Owen eventually patted him on his shoulder.

"Oh, well" Owen told him with nonchalance. "We can't say too much around that I like something you do now, can we? Might let you go with this today since it's your wedding and all, though"

"Yeah!" Gwen popped in excitedly. "We need to freshen up a bit, but nothing that can take too long… We need to think about your partnership now that everything is solved! We finally have also Tosh and Owen back!"

"There won't be any partnership today, Gwen." Jack told her warmly, trying his best to give her a smile.

"We are not only not half an hour earlier as we should have, but look at the hour." Ianto explained her, noticing her wide surprised eyes. "It was supposed to  _begin_  half an hour ago. The Millennium Centre and the civil registrar have a tight schedule in this period."

"Oh Ianto, I'm so sorry…" Toshiko told him guiltily, taking his face in her still cold hands. "This all happened because of us"

Ianto could do nothing more than smile at her. "You're way more important than a ceremony. Jack and I we'll be fine even without us being legal"

"And, c'mon." Jack tried to cheer everyone up. "What's a Torchwood wedding without an alien intervention? At least ours was a friendly one."

As Jack said the last part, he glanced back at Gwen, who smirked annoyed back at him. He was sure that if she had something on herself to throw at him that moment, she would have surely hurled it at him.

In the meanwhile, the General had announced to his soldiers and Mickey that the situation had been contained, so slowly the trapped civilians poked out their head from the Millennium Centre and the neighbouring alleys. Slowly, obviously, except for Rhiannon, who once she had finally set her eyes on her ruffled brother, run to him only to hit him right behind the head.

"You daff sod! You were supposed to get married today not play  _Men In Black_! Look at your suit!"

"It's partnership, Rhi, and this is a tuxedo" Ianto complained massaging his head, only to receive another slap on the same spot.

"Don't play smart-ass with your sister, Ianto Jones!" She reprimanded him. "If that monster had killed you I would have killed you myself again, until not even you could come back!"

"C'mon, Rhia. Everything ended well." Jack tried to calm down the furious Welshwoman, but received he himself a slap on his arm.

"Don't Rhia me, you Yankee! You barely have holidays and now? Working on your special day? What sort of boss are you bringing my brother into this mess?!"

"Well, it's not like we can have the ceremony now" Ianto moped, putting his hands on his hips as he glared at his sister annoyed.

"Oh, yes you can!" Rhiannon told him, smiling widely. "There's no chance that one of you is getting out of this Plass today without making an honest man out of the other! That nice old man already went to ask the owners"

"What?" Both Jack and Ianto exclaimed.

As if on cue, Wilfred came their way, accompanied by what seemed a neatly dressed waiter.

"Mister Harkness, Mister Jones." He greeted courteously. "I'm the  _maître d'_. Mister Mott kindly explained us the reasons of your involvement in this accident."

Jack felt a cold breeze around himself as he took in the deceptive looks of the man, whose manners remembered him too much of Ianto for his likings. He had to wonder, if the face of the  _maître d'_ appeared completely void of emotion only to him or also to his Ianto, the king of the deadpans.

"We would like to inform you that our Centre signed some rather interesting deals during all these years also thanks to the proximity of your supposedly super-secret base and your admirable zeal in protecting Earth from danger. What you did today proved that we own you even more than what the legends about you would say"

The Captain tried his best to not burst out laughing at the pompous talk of the  _maître d'_ and the way he was describing his mundane Torchwood, until the smile threatening to escape his lips disappeared thanks to Ianto, who subtly stomped on his foot to make him behave.

"If this is still your intention, we would be glad to proceed with the ceremony for the registration of your partnership and also provide you some more time to…" The  _maître d'_ trailed off taking in their messy attire before offering them a even wider smile. "…pull yourself together."

Unfortunately for the  _maître d'_ , the only thing Jack could think about in that moment was how much he resembled Ianto, so he didn't even realize when the man stopped speaking and his boyfriend actually looked at him.

"Jack, don't ogle the  _maître d'_ " Ianto said between his teeth, as he stomped on his foot him again.

That finally managed to get Jack out of his trance. "Ohi!"

As Jack glared back at Ianto, he found his lover smiling so innocently at him that he could do nothing more than roll his eyes at the drama and forgive him for stomping on his foot.

"Are we still up to register today?" Ianto asked him, smiling at him way more sincerely than before.

After he had considered the proposition for a fraction of second, Jack smiled back at his lover and nodded at him, sealing his decision with a light kiss on the Welshman's lips.

When the kiss ended, Ianto took a few second to let part of his embarrassment go away, and then turned to the  _maître d'_.

"If that's not a problem, we would like to take up your offer"

"We would do anything for Torchwood" The  _maître d'_ said courteously, accepting their decision with a courteous bow, before moving to go back and start the arrangements. "We will wait for you at the  _Penderyn Awen Foyer_."

Once the  _maître d'_ was away from earshot, Owen turned accusingly at Ianto. "What was that thing he said!?"

"That's the name of the wedding venue. Is used also for registrations like ours." Ianto explained with a risen eyebrow. "You worked at Torchwood for what? Four years? Didn't you ever get inside the Millennium once?"

"Not my place, mate." Owen stole a glance behind himself just in case the  _maître d'_ had also Ianto's ability to appear from nowhere. "They seem kind of… posh. Just look at that bloke!"

"It's not like you can't afford posh." Jack pointed out evenly.

"I don't actually know what I can afford now" Owen stated pensively.

"I'll check tomorrow." Ianto promised professionally. "Until then…"

Ianto took few steps away and clapped dramatically his hands. Before the two ex-ghost could understand what was going on, Gwen took Toshiko and Donna Owen, dragging them towards their respective cars.

"The gentleman gave us time, sweetheart" Gwen explained smiling, as Martha took Toshiko by her other arm excited.

"We have enough time for a total make up." The UNIT medic explained happily.

"I bet we can even find something good to make you scrawny ass look less scrawny" Donna stated pompously, snapping her fingers over her head seeing Owen trying to get away from her grip. "Rhys! Shaun! I need you right NOW!"

"Oooohi!" The Doctor interrupted them before they went too far away, sounding completely outraged. "No one of you bloody  _apes_  wants to know what happened!?"

"Well, actually that thought crossed my mind." Ianto admitted, comfortably snuggling at his lover's side as he awaited for the long explanation about to begin.

"I knew I  _had_  to like you for a reason!" The Doctor chirped, jumping happily on the spot. "Soooo…"

He stopped jumping as he stared right at Owen, took aim of his target and with a move similar to something between a baseball shot and a classical dance step he threw a black velvet case at the Englishman. The medic stared at him with both his eyebrows risen, but the Doctor only gestured him to open the box.

Inside there was a piece of paper and a single white flower. As Owen took out the piece of paper, Toshiko walked next to him and took a hold of the flower.

" _234/carrot/3479_ ,  _SQ3,_   _15h 15.7m, −15.01_?" Owen read staring dubiously at the Doctor. "And this is Ianto's handwriting."

"Oh, not that! By the way, that's the year and place in which your bodies were stashed away" The Time Lord explained. "There will be a horrible war in the eastern part of the galaxy by that time, especially about the constellation you call Libra, so the inhabitants took great joy in hibernating non only themselves, but entire pieces of universe, hoping that things got better with time. Your bodies were displaced there, that gave us enough time. That's not what's important, however, read the other side!"

Owen turned the piece of paper, but his expression did not change. " _Who's next?_ "

Ianto disentangled from Jack and went to peek over Owen's shoulder.

"This is your handwriting, Jack."

Jack went to have a look at the paper too and glared at his boyfriend. "Hey! Mine is not chicken legs!"

All the others rose their eyebrows at Jack, so the captain simply rolled his eyes.

"I think the meaning is related to the flower" Toshiko said, caressing lightly the soft petals of the white flower.

As soon as Jack saw the flower in Toshiko's hands, he understood what she meant, but the thing didn't seem as obvious for the others except Ianto.

"It's a  _stephanotis_  " Ianto added smirking, but the name was still not helping the rest of the group at all.

"It's also called  _bridal veil_ " Toshiko explained, offering better piece of information. "It means  _marital happiness_ "

She stole a glance in Owen's direction, but he looked away as soon as they eyes met.

"We didn't even have that date we were talking about" Owen pointed out irately. "Isn't it a bit soon to speak about weddings?"

"Well, there's time" Toshiko pointed out giggling, satisfied that this time it wasn't an outright no.

"There's life" Ianto added lightly, searching with his hand for Jack's to hold onto it.

"There are preparations to do!" Gwen and Donna took their chance to remind everyone, taking once again Toshiko and Owen by surprise. This time, they actually managed to bring them to their cars for a last minute shopping galore.

"We'll have to get ourselves presentable too" Jack stated, smirking evilly at Ianto.

"Of course." The Welshman countered, answering his grin with a wicked one of his own.

"And you're coming with us" They both chanted, as they quickly turned to grip the Doctor by his bow-tie and drag him towards their own car.

From afar, everyone could hear the Doctor's cries of outrage filling the late summer morning for the following several minutes.

**T.B.C.**

 


	13. Tying up the knots

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the info about location and how partnerships are made in Wales mostly on wmc . org . uk

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Torchwood and Dr Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, bring Ianto back to Jack first.

 

The shining white of the interiors made the tons of light coming from the carved sloping wall even brighter. Most of the guests felt lightly disoriented in all that airy glamour, but they had to admit that once in a while it was nice dressing up and pretending that they could fit in such posh place.

Besides, it was true what Jack had said before: it was not like they couldn't afford posh, even more than once in a while.

Gwen and Martha had found a nice and cute blue short dress for Toshiko, transforming her casual-ghost attire in ' _the perfect bridesmaid_ ' one -as the UNIT medic had put it- while Donna and the two men had miraculously managed to almost transform Owen in a socially acceptable human being, at least fashion-wise.

Jack and Ianto, on the other hand, this time had to literally tight up the Doctor to fit him inside a clean suit, but eventually they managed it successfully despite all the inconveniences. Inconveniences that didn't include only the Doctor's lack of cooperation, but also Jack harassing Ianto.

Truth was that as soon as the Time Lord's protests had been sedated, the Welshman had to shoo away his boyfriend, before his mouth started to list the infinite stream of indecencies that were his plans for their wedding night.

As much as Ianto was interested in knowing the details of it, he didn't like the idea of sharing them with the Doctor and he knew for sure that the Time Lord didn't want to know. Even though Ianto had no qualms harassing the Time Lord, he had to admit that letting Jack continue would have made the Doctor uncomfortable and an uncomfortable Doctor was even harder to dress up.

Unfortunately, walls and locked doors proved not to be enough to protect themselves from the Captain's loud story-telling, much to Ianto and the Doctor's desperation.

As soon as everyone took their position inside the beautiful room, the registrar began her speech, chanting the name of the location and the one of the spouses, thanking all for coming and proceeding monotonously through all the legal rights stuff. Everything was barely heard by Jack and Ianto and much less by their guests, who were however kindly pretending to listen. Once she pronounced the words " _I'm required to ask_ " though, the attention of everyone snapped back to the whereabouts of the ceremony or more precisely to the UNIT General, who had been way too quiet during the whole speech.

"…that if anyone present is aware of any legal reason which would prevent Jack or Ianto from registering their partnership today, they should declare it now."

Fearing that the General sudden and slight movement was an attempt to do or say something to stop the ceremony, Martha and Mickey literally jumped over him, Martha shutting his mouth with both her hands while Mickey kept his hands well down on his tights until they were certain that the registrar had moved on with her speech. As soon as he was free, the General glared ad them, accusing them of betrayal before muttering something along the lines of ' _already dead_ ', ' _stolen identities_ ' and ' _falsified records_ '.

Ignoring the General's mumble, they all focused back on the actual ceremony as they heard Ianto's deep voice.

"Today, I Ianto Jones make a commitment to enter into a civil partnership with the man known as Captain Jack Harkness. I understand and acknowledge the rights and responsibilities which the formation of this partnership will involve for each of us. I promise to care for you always and I look forward to our future together with hope, happiness and joy."

"Any union has to be entered into voluntarily" The registrar continued. "And therefore I will ask each of you this question. Ianto do you, by your own choice, freely enter into this civil partnership with Jack?"

"Yes"

Ianto looked down at his feet as he literally felt the crimson shade of his embarrassment creep up his neck. Not having the courage to look up at Jack, he glanced nervously around himself, but was reassured by the warm smile of Toshiko, who was standing next to him as his own witness, and by the already tearful wink Gwen gave him, as she stood near his boyfriend as his witness. As he focused back on what the registrar was saying, he could barely make out her last words before Jack started his own declaration.

"Today, I as Captain Jack Harkness make a commitment to enter into a civil partnership with Ianto Jones. I understand and acknowledge the rights and responsibilities which the formation of this partnership will involve for each of us. I choose you above all others to share my life. I promise to love, honour and trust you as long as I live."

Ianto's eyes went suddenly up to stare into Jack's ones and there he found all the warmth and the uncertainties that his last words held. They'd had plenty of pre-made statement to choose from –and obviously to slightly adapt to make them a bit more legal- when they decided that they didn't need to formulate their own to be happy, so for Jack to choose exactly that one and keep it like that...  _As long as I live_ , not  _as long as you live_. That hurt, hurt even more after having already seen what his death had done to his lover.

Back when what they had didn't even have a name.

They had more than half of forever to stay together now, but there was still the chance that in the end Jack might end up alone… Yet, he chose those words.

Jack must have fallen in Ianto's same path of thoughts, because the registrar had to ask him twice the same question, before he actually focused back on the ceremony enough to answer "Yes", allowing her to move on to the exchange of the rings that were kindly brought to them by a twelve years old Mica, dressed in a neat white dress full of trims that matched the small cushion she was holding.

Ianto smiled at his niece before taking the ring with the inscription in Boeshane Peninsula dialect from the white trimmed cushion.

"Jack, I give you this ring as a symbol of our union and as an outward sign of the commitment we are making to each other"

Jack had to swallow as he saw Ianto's delicate fingers fitting the ring back on the same finger he had wore it on for almost a month now. Somehow it felt different, so much that he had to force himself to smile nervously at his lover when his own turn came and he tried to not make a mess of the entire ceremony and drop Ianto's one.

"Ianto, I give you this ring as a symbol of our union and as an outward sign of the commitment we are making to each other"

The registrar stared amused at Jack's trembling and callous hands, having seen only a couple of hours before before how the embarrassed man in front of her had handled more dangerous guns and situations in a much steadier way. She had to take a moment to try not to laugh improperly at the Captain, but she could see that apparently all the guests and witnesses were sharing her same thought and that made her feel less guilty.

Jack and Ianto, however, still barely acknowledged everything and everyone around them, too worried to mess something up and too nervous about the consequences of the big step they were taking. Their relationship without a name, the same one that had fully gained one only after Ianto's death, was now going to have also a proper legal name. It was almost like this was the baptism of their little adventure born out of tensions, fears and loneliness.

"I declare" Ianto recited as soon as it was again his turn to speak. "That I know of no legal reason why we may not register as each other's civil partner. I understand that on signing this document we will be forming a civil partnership with each other."

Jack smirked at him as he repeated his boyfriend's same statement and they proceeded to sign the document the registrar had got ready for them, despite both of them knew, as much as the UNIT General and all the others, about the load of legal gaps not only concerning their relationship, but also their very same existence. Still, they didn't care: those details weren't as important as their will to be together, and a little white lie had never really killed anyone. It certainly couldn't kill them.

"Jack and Ianto, you have both consented to enter into a civil partnership with one another and you have signed the schedule which is required under the Act, in the presence of your witnesses, family and friends here today. Therefore, I can now declare that you have become civil partners."

The registrar took a small step back and with a big smile motioned for them to go on with what she knew it was the most beloved part for every couple she had married, being it straight, gay or lesbian. Obviously, Jack and Ianto weren't waiting for her consent, and they had already closed up the short space in between them to capture each other's lips in a mostly chaste and warm kiss.

The guests kindly waited until they parted before crying out in joy and jumping on their friends to deliver the due congratulations. Surrounded by the love of their most cherished people, they knew they would held the warmth of the moment forever in their hearts.

 

**25th century**

 

Back in the 25th century, Jack and Ianto were fighting and yelling at one another.

"Oh, c'mon!" Jack argued, irritation clear in his voice. "You thought it was cute back then, and besides, you knew I would have done it"

"I told you that I  _didn't_   _remember_! And now I know why I didn't want to, thanks Jack." Ianto huffed, standing in front of his fiancé with his hands on his hips like the very picture of an irate and irreproachable Welshman. "You forced specific events to happen in the past, that's not allowed!"

"If I had really done something bad, don't you think the Doctor would be here?" Jack pointed out plainly. "But, hey, I can't see him! You know that what I did didn't change the past, why are you angry at me!? Besides, it's not like you're the Doctor's biggest fan and I don't see him currently crying ' _Paradox!_ ' like the day I met him after turning immortal!"

Ianto stared back at him, his expression something between a frown and a pout.

"Why should I be fond of Doctor ' _I steal other people's partners when pregnant_ '!?"

"Oh c'mon, honey!" Jack tried to sweeten his lover up. "It was just a trip and years have passed!"

"A trip that got you killed when you were already pregnant with Steven!" Ianto yelled back at him, the memory of what had happened seven years before still making him plainly furious.

"I did not know!"

"Oh, then why do I believe that you went away with him  _because_  you suspected you were!?" Ianto shouted despite his best judgment before he could censor himself, glaring at his lover.

"How  _dare_  you!?" Jack countered, this time actually hurt by Ianto's assumptions. "I would  _never_  lose our child intentionally!"

"Face it, Jack. You can't honestly say you had absolutely no clue!" Ianto argued back at him, the pain he had felt years ago still cracking his voice. "You left me without a single message on a bloody piece of paper!"

"The Doctor brought me back only a week after!"

"A week for me! For you they were three bloody months, and as soon as you came back you fainted from the pain of the miscarriage of a child I knew nothing about!" Ianto kept glaring at Jack, his eyes getting teary with hurt and anger. "How am I supposed to believe you!? We had been fighting over everything during the whole week before you disappeared!"

"You!" Jack yelled almost hysterically, answering Ianto's glare with his own. "Now we know why we kept fighting, don't we? I was bloody  _pregnant_ , so I had the rights to be hysterical for once!  _You're_  liar between us!"

"Only because you're gullible " Ianto stated innocently, shrugging with nonchalance and looking elsewhere, while his fiancé's jaw dropped in shock.

"What the hell?!" Jack protested. "We promised one another love and trust during our partnership ceremony! How many times you lied to me!?"

Ianto took a moment to consider: excluding the bits and snippets before his first death that Jack already knew about, he had sincerely left out only the way he kept pretending to not remember what had happened in the House of Dead. He had to admit that it wasn't a bad score, still he wasn't going to admit it to Jack right now, especially when  _he_  was the one with the right to be furious at Jack.

"I never promised that, you did." Ianto answered smartly. "I said I would care about you"

"We're going to get married!" Jack protested, noticing how well his fiancé had accurately not answered the question.

"Then when you will be my full fledged husband I'll try to limit them as long as you use your brain before acting!"

Jack scoffed and crossed his arms on his chest, pouting miserably. He was too cute for Ianto to stay angry at him, so he closed up the few feet that separated them and reached up for a kiss. The Captain willed himself to not answer it and stared down suspiciously at his fiancé.

"I love you" Ianto told him, trying not to laugh at Jack's too serious expression. "And I know you did not go away to put yourself in danger on purpose, it was horrible of me to say that to you"

It had really been horrible of Ianto to accuse Jack of willingly attempting at his own safety, but Jack himself couldn't really deny that Ianto was actually right in his assumptions. It was only a vague guess that he could have been with child at the time, a vague but still sensible guess.

For a whole week before he had left with the Doctor, he hadn't been able to restrain himself to fight with everyone on his team, to the point that he and Ianto eventually communicated only by shouting at one another. Moreover, after all the yells, he ended up in tears alone in their room, feeling ill, dizzy and nauseous.

He had wanted to go away alone for so many reasons: to not face Ianto after having been so cruel about their chances to have kids each time they talked about it, to not keep fighting with everyone, to have the chance to not properly think about what his lack of control over himself could mean…

Only when he found himself screaming in pain as he woke up in his room inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. after his death, with Clara at his side watching worriedly over him, he understood that he should have known bloody better. He wanted the child, he wanted to go home and he even wanted to let Ianto be angry at him how much he wanted as long as he was with him.

"How am I supposed to know that's not a lie too?"

Ianto traced sensually the rim of Jack's braces and smirked at him. "I could show you"

"Oh, no, you won't get out of this so easily this time" Jack stated seriously and then turned to walk towards the control panel next to which they had left the stroller, with inside a still miraculously asleep Alice. Steven, who had been watching amused the whole banter while sipping obediently his juice, was sitting on a small chair right next to it. Jack patted affectionately his son's hair with one hand, as he stopped himself right next to him, while with the other he pushed some buttons and keys on the console.

"C'mon, Jack, it's not like you don't lie to me too!" Ianto tried to coax Jack out of his little revenge without having to admit to have lied about lying to him. "You know that eventually we always tell each other everything…"

"Don't worry about what I'm doing now." Jack stated plainly. "I'm just rescheduling myself as the head of Satellite Three."

Despite Jack's friendly tone, Ianto looked at him outraged. "You can't mean you don't trust me anymore to be in charge! Regardless of me being your partner, I've always been loyal to you and to Torchwood since the mess with Lis- with Abaddon!"

"It's not like that, Ianto, calm down now." Jack said as he delightfully pressed the last enter command and turned towards his fiancé.

"You told me yourself that you had that new retcon research project to begin, I'm only giving you more free time."

Ianto considered Jack's words and couldn't find any fault in them, so he stared hesitantly back at his lover, studying him suspiciously.

"Well, yes" Ianto admitted, still just a little dubious of Jack's real intents. "E-even though I don't understand why you can't do that yourself since you were the one dosing it the first time"

"Oh, c'mon!" Jack chuckled at his protests. "As you said: I  _dosed_  it. Here you have a whole new compound to create. You told me that you had ideas on how to make it work, but if you want, I can ask someone else…"

"No… No no, it's… it's fine" Ianto stuttered even more nervously. "But how is giving me more time for my researches a punishment?"

Jack smiled widely at him, an evil light shining in his eyes.

"I've been with the little menace in me nine months plus I had her all the time you had to work on the teleport-integration device. From now, for at least a week, during the working hours, she's all yours!"

" _All_  working hours?" Ianto said, his voice barely a whisper. "Jack, for us it could mean up to 20 hours a day!"

"Don't worry, I won't stay 20 whole hours without seeing my little angel" He said, bending over the stroller to fix the little blanket over his daughter and smiling adoringly at the sleeping baby before turning back to stare at his fiancé. "But I won't be the one dealing with her hysterics for a while. Don't worry, after the week we'll reschedule evenly"

Jack gave Ianto a small peck on his lips, smirking even more cruelly. "Good work, dear"

The Captain was already half through the corridor when finally Ianto got over his shock. "Jack!" He called out, but his fiancé simply waved him hello without even turning around to look at him.

Ianto sighed loudly and walked resignedly towards the console to begin at least to plan the data gathering before giving priority to his children. Steven, who had stared amused at his fathers' drama, now turned his attention on the remaining one of them, smirking almost as evilly as Jack.

" _Mam_  got angry, didn't he?"

Ianto rolled his eyes and looked down at the little smartass.

"Welsh won't save you from your father's anger, you know that,  _cariad_?"

"I know, but  _tad_  Ianto loves me"

Ianto stopped typing for a moment as he physically perceived the blackmail approaching.

"Of course  _tad_  Ianto loves you. And your sister" He confirmed slowly and dubiously. " _Tad_  Jack does too"

" _Tad_  Ianto said I'm not going to survive, though." Steven added matter-of-factly. "If I keep calling  _tad_   _mam_ , it is" 

Ianto turned his whole attention to his son, eying him suspiciously. "So?"

"I'll give up calling  _tad_  Jack  _mam_ , if you promise I can join Torchwood when I'm older" Steven proposed proudly.

"What!?" Ianto cried, straightening his back and staring reproachfully at his son.

"I wanna be like you and daaad!" Steven pouted in a way that was even more heart breaking than Jack's. Still, there was no way Ianto would give up on that matter.

"Steven, I will  _never_  let you join." He told him sternly, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's already too dangerous as it is!"

"Then I will keep calling  _mam_   _tad_  Jack!" The child protested, pouting and nodding firmly. "Until you promise I can join!"

Ianto stared shocked at the little resolute child in front of him… All of this was eerily familiar to him, too familiar. However he knew well what he would to do with himself, especially a six-years-old version of himself, so he took an elliptic white plate from one of the drawers and let it fall in front of Steven. As soon as the thing touched the floor, a colourful blob similar to a soap bubble appeared and stretched itself so much that it was almost as tall as Ianto.

In front of the child's astonished eyes, he put his hand on the bubble and pressed it down, molding it so that it was at a more manageable height for the kid.

"Why don't you try it yourself?" He invited him with a smile.

Steven put his little hands on the bubble and watched dazed as the bubble moved along with his hands.

"Now try and let it go?" Ianto suggested.

Steven looked at his father suspiciously, but let it go nevertheless, ending up in a bundle of giggles as the thing jumped high again. He touched it again where it was still attached to the white device and began taking it down again little by little so that the bubble was again at his height to make it jump once again, losing himself in the new game in front of the amused stare of his father, who happily turned his chair again towards the monitor sighing loudly.

"This should be enough hi-tech to keep you busy for a while" Ianto said with a fond smile on his lips, even though he kept wondering why couldn't he just save himself with 10 pounds like he did with his nephew and niece… Back when it was still the 21st century.

Just to reassure himself that she was alright, Ianto decided to check that his daughter was still fast asleep, then he focused back on the big computer in front of himself collecting information not only for the new retcon, but also about the actual period when they had to use it... since he certainly couldn't risk the new product to interact badly with what past Jack could ate or drink.

Images of the 21st century began to flow in front of him on the big screen along with the different kind of data and figures…

… and he definitively understood that he really wasn't the best man for this job.

As if on cue, his comm beeped and he touched it to get the communication. "Ianto here"

" _Are you a bit nostalgic, my love?_ " Jack's teasing voice came out clear from his comm.

Ianto laughed at Jack's comment, but only hearing those words he realized that his eyes were getting wet.

"Weren't you supposed to enjoy your regained health and power?" Ianto argued, drying his eyes with his sleeve.

" _I was doing just that, and it came to my attention how well organized and efficient you kept the whole place while I was… well, locked up."_ Jack explained merrily. _"I wanted to congratulate my efficient substitute._ "

"Like I ever left the hub fall to pieces when you were away" Ianto protested curtly.

Jack's laugh came out clear even through the comm.

" _Well yeah, truth is that it was an excellent excuse to spy on you and my deplorable kids..._ "

Ianto chuckled and shook his head at Jack's comment. "C'mon Jack, he will grow out of it without him being _deplorable_ "

" _Bulling someone to get inside Torchwood? I don't think he will ever grow out of it."_ Jack teased with mirth. _"When he will hit his puberty, why don't we also check his future girlfriends thoroughly to be certain there won't be any half converted cyber-woman?_ "

Ianto scoffed at the bad memories Jack was evoking and he focused back on the computer as he resumed gathering all the data he needed.

"You've got something else to tell me?" Ianto asked Jack annoyed. "We have still about 50 years before we need to mess again with the past, but this time I would prefer to be a little more ready for it"

" _Actually yes, I've got something else to tell you_ " Jack's voice had turned so sweet and mellow that Ianto felt his heart melt. " _We'll get back on Earth, Ianto. We still have some more time to live there before it becomes completely inhabitable_ "

"Yep, I know the drill. Wait until the flares subdue" Ianto recited dutifully. "It's just… It has been four years already, Jack… I don't want my kids to grow up and die in space..."

" _Me neither, Ianto. C'mon, will sort it out._ "

"I bet there are more chances for Rhys to sort things out with his Scottish wife than for us to go back soon" Ianto answered, trying for sarcasm and failing miserably at it. "I wonder if his son will ever speak Welsh at all"

" _Then I'm sure you will find him or whatever child he will have in the meanwhile and do a great job un-Scottish-ing them._ "

Jack's joke actually managed to earn a sincere laugh from Ianto, who let himself smirk cheekily at his fiancé. "You bet I'll do that, even though I still believe Scottish to be far better than English"

" _Ianto, you Welsh people are something else entirely"_ Jack concluded, chuckling at his partner's resolution. _"I'll see you at dinner, love you_ "

"Prepare yourself to start the wedding plans, in the meanwhile. See you,  _cariad_. Love you too"

As the communication ended, Ianto focused back on the big screen in front of himself as he began typing a list of priorities for his next mission regarding the past. Certainly the new retcon was the top one, but after that he was certain that the fun part would begin. Programs to keep the government away had to be a must, plans for a transport the magnet… What alloys were there on Earth back in the 21st century?

Screw that, the fun part had already begun: after nine months passed ordering around and making decisions, Satellite Three about to crash and a whole re-bodying machine to build all by himself by memory, since all the original plans had been left inside the hub archives on Earth, research was honestly a pleasant distraction. As much as it was teasing his lover, though.

"Steven?" Ianto called as he stood up from his station. "Are you coming with  _tad_?"

"Yess!" The child chirped happily as he abandoned his new toy and reached for the corner of Ianto's jacket while his father took the stroller. "Where are we going?"

"The shopping area" Ianto answered quietly. "We're going find a present for  _tad_  Jack."

"Sweets!" The child proposed over excitedly. Ianto laughed at him, guessing that his lover would have had most likely their son's same reaction.

"Nope, I was thinking about hair dye for  _tad_  Ianto" Ianto said, smirking evilly. "I will have to try out some to be certain to get the one that will have the best effect on your  _tad_ , don't you agree?"

"I agree that  _tad_  Ianto is thinking about dirty things" Steven complained, shaking gravely his head at his father.

Ianto smirked as he ruffled his son hair with his hand and tried not to think too much about how dirty where indeed the thoughts that were crossing his mind at the moment.

After all, there were lots of things one could do with hair dye.

 

***Time overlaps - The end***

 

Our love bloomed in a  ** _tainted time Eclipse_** ,

a cold kiss left  ** _on the lost lovers_** ' lips.

For me is past, for you has yet to come,

while the  ** _graveyard_**  still holds what I'll become.

 

I will bring you  ** _back_**  the way I loved you,

 ** _reinforce_**  your heart and then help you through

the  ** _war and secrets_**  that once killed us both,

as  ** _back and forth_**   ** _from_**  life I'll break my oath.

 

For you I'll defeat my ungrateful  ** _death_** ,

hold me with  ** _Tainted_**  hands 'till my last breath:

our  ** _souls_**  still  ** _remember_**  how much we care,

even if a too long time we didn't share.

 

 ** _Back to life_**  now is a world far too old.

Please, do  ** _know me again_**  and win the cold.

Fighting  ** _aliens_**  and retrieving tech,

let's restart the team to keep Earth  ** _in_**  check.

 

As I study  ** _Cardiff_**  and what is due,

 ** _lessons_**  are learnt just  ** _on_**  my love for you.

Then our  ** _immortality_**  will unlock

what can still  ** _tick_**  our time and  ** _stop_**  our  ** _clock_**.

 

Love,  ** _play_**  along with me  ** _your_**  deathless  ** _game_**

and don't leave me alone to take the blame,

since the  ** _noble_**  intentions on our  ** _mind_**

will not leave our  ** _immortal life_**  behind.

 

 ** _Care for me_** , my dear friend, and look beyond,

to a  ** _Time_**  that  ** _overlaps_**  on our  ** _bond_** **,**

as we  ** _age_**  years that we can't count with  ** _Maths_**

since many paradoxes make our paths.

 

As  ** _supernatural_**  as it may seems,

we'll find another way to mend our dreams:

the century we live won't change at all

our long  ** _parade_**  of problems, big and small.

 

Will it be  ** _on the rocks_**  of our Earth home,

on the cold metal under a glass dome,

for  ** _fifty_**  times ten our love still remains

despite fading  ** _shades_**  and  ** _violet_**  chains.

 

Solving  ** _botched_**  relationships in our past

will make our  ** _endeavours_**  still hard to last,

when  ** _drinks_**  won't help us understand what tools

we'll need to help our  ** _ghosts_**  despite the rules.

 

Thanks to  ** _forgotten things_**  of many kinds,

be  ** _one_**  turns harder than decrypting signs.

Our  ** _hub fits all_**  our hopes, but they won't last,

despite linking again future and past.

 

Our home is again full of death and stinks,

the  ** _Civil Servants' War_**  disrupting links,

as old  ** _love quarrels_**  bring us near to break,

still bringing  ** _improvements_**  and rules to make.

 

We'll need our whole new team to win the strife:

hope, love, truth, mind, courage and also life,

along a  ** _future_**  shining in bright lights

that  ** _send_**  the  ** _support_**  we need to our fights.

 

It's a  ** _matter of_**  trust and un ** _tag_** ged shots

what will lead us all  ** _tying up the knots_** ,

as we set to make our eternal vow

also in a future away from now.

 

For you is past, for me has yet to come

the day I started to live again from,

but we know it is all in our first past

what will tell us this is going to last.

 

*** Tainted Time Eclipse by Kammyh - The end ***

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you still haven't read Eclipse on the Lost Lovers, this is the best time to do it since it follows past Future Ianto's timeline

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [It's All About Trust](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12118353) by [celedan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/celedan/pseuds/celedan)




End file.
